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Excel - Mastering Excel's Fill Handle: How to Control Copying and Filling Series - Episode 510

836 views · Published 1 September 2009 · 3:14 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: MrExcel.com · 2009 · Education

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Microsoft Excel Tutorial - Mastering Excel's Fill Handle: How to Control Copying and Filling Series.

Welcome back to the MrExcel netcast! In today's episode, we'll be discussing a question sent in by Terry about the fill handle in Excel. If you have a question for the podcast, please leave us a voicemail or send an email to [email protected] and we'll address it in a future episode.

Terry's question revolves around the autofill options box that pops up when using the fill handle. This little icon gives us the choice to either copy cells or fill a series. However, Terry's issue is that this icon often hides the data in the next row, making it difficult to work with. We'll show you how to get rid of this icon and still have control over whether to fill a series or copy cells.

To turn off the autofill options box, go to Tools ＞ Options ＞ Edit tab and uncheck the "Show Paste Options button" box. Now, when you drag the fill handle, the icon will not appear. However, this means we need to learn how to control whether to fill a series or copy cells in a different way.

If you have a numeric value, such as 6, and want to extend the series to 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, simply hold down the Control key while dragging the fill handle. If you want to copy the value, just drag the fill handle without holding down any keys. On the other hand, if you have dates or text, the rules are reversed. Dragging the fill handle will extend the series, but to copy the value, you must hold down the Control key while dragging.

Knowing when to hold down the Control key or not will solve the problem of the icon appearing and give you more control over your autofill options. If you have any other tips or tricks for getting rid of the icon, please let us know in the comments below. Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time for another netcast from MrExcel!

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Table of Contents:
(00:00) Introduction and question from Terry
(00:19) How to submit questions for future podcasts
(00:29) Terry's question about the fill handle and autofill options
(00:42) How to change the autofill option to fill the series
(00:52) Terry's problem with the icon hiding data in the next row
(01:07) How to turn off the icon by changing settings in Tools Options
(01:33) How to control whether to fill the series or copy using the Control key
(02:42) Conclusion and invitation for feedback on how to get rid of the icon 
(02:52) Clicking Like really helps the algorithm

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YouTube video on using the fill handle in Excel

When you drag the fill handle, Excel offers an extremely useful AutoFill Options dropdown. Well, it is extremely useful UNLESS you really want to get rid of the dropdown so you can see the value in the next row, then the dropdown is really annoying! In Episode 510, you will learn how to control whether Excel will copy or fill the series so that you can turn this annoying icon off.Clicking Like really helps the algorithm

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