In this article we will show how to fill a series in Google Sheets for numbers, letters, days and months. Just follow the steps below:
Populating consecutive numbers in Google Sheets is a common task when creating lists, managing inventory, or categorizing values.
Manually inputting these numbers can be time-consuming, but with the automation capabilities of Google Sheets, this task can be easily accomplished without the need for manual input.
Here we will start off with a simple 1-10 count so in our first cell, A1, we will input the value one 1.
Since we are only doing a simple sequence, we input 2 as the next value in cell A2.
A dark bow box should appear in the bottom right corner of your selection.
Here we will drag until row 10 to get 10 new rows. You should see your cursor turn into a + sign.
Tip: Google Sheets automatically detects the pattern from your values so you can also fill in a series of numbers with different increments.
Say you want to put in additional increments of two, simply put 3 in the next cell since 1+2=3. This will automatically detect the pattern and add an increment of 2 in all of the succeeding cells.
We will put the first date of the current year in cell A1.
A blue box should appear on the lower right side of your cell
For our example, let us place the first 14 days of the month and drag from cell A1 to A14.
Notice how the days are automatically filled in order. You can continue to drag the blue box to add more days in the sequence.
Just like filling a series of dates, we will fill a series of months using the drag function of Google Sheets. Simply follow this guide to do so:
Just for our example let us begin with August on cell A1.
You can notice that after December, Google Sheets will automatically go back to January. You can use this for personal calendars or goal tracking.
Filling a series of letters will become a bit more complex than the other fill series but learning this will help you a lot when it comes to assigning letter codes or categorizing.
You can attempt simply filling the first two cells with A and B respectively but dragging these down will only repeat the selected letters and return a series of A’s and B’s.
The proper way to achieve a series of letters in Google Sheets will be by using a formula as shown below:
Here we will be putting letter A on the first cell.
Here we will use =CHAR(CODE(A1)+1)to retrieve the next letter, B. A quick explanation of our formula is seen here:
The CODE function turns your letter into an equivalent number. Using this number, we can now add 1 and then get a succeeding number. CHAR will turn the new number back into its equivalent letter, hence we get the next letter in the series. This is the pattern we want Google Sheets to pick up.
Dragging until row 10 will give us the letters A-J. Now you can use this method instead of manually typing the letters in your workbook.
We hope this article has helped you and given you a better understanding of how to fill a series in Google Sheets. You might also like our articles on how to fill down in Google Sheets and how to save Google Sheets as PDF.
To optimize your workflow, we recommend reading our guide on how to send automated reminder emails in Gmail.
