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Excel - Efficient Solutions to Remove Annoying Fill Handle Options in Excel - Episode 515

268 views · Published 1 September 2009 · 2:09 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: MrExcel.com · 2009 · Education

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Microsoft Excel Tutorial: Efficient Solutions to Remove Annoying Fill Handle Options in Excel.

Welcome back to the MrExcel podcast where we discuss all things Excel. I'm Bill Jelen and today we're revisiting a topic from last week's episode. In episode 508, we had a question from Terry about the annoying fill handle options box that pops up when dragging the fill handle. Despite showing how to turn it off in the previous episode, I knew there had to be a better solution. And thanks to our amazing viewers, we have not one, but two solutions to share with you today.

First, Bob Meanie suggested a simple solution - just select another cell and hit the [delete] key. This will make the box disappear and allow you to continue working without any interruptions. I had been trying to hit the [escape] key, but as Bob pointed out, that doesn't work. Thank you, Bob, for this helpful tip.

Our second solution comes from Tom Artis, a friend of mine from California who helped us with one of our first products, Holly Macro. This product, originally created by Hans Herbert from Germany, contains 2,500 VBA examples that will make your Excel experience even better. Tom's suggestion is to right-click the fill handle and drag, instead of left-clicking. This will bring up a box where you can choose to copy cells or fill the series, and as soon as you make your selection, the box will automatically disappear. This is a much more efficient and less intrusive option, and we have Tom to thank for it.

I highly recommend checking out Holly Macro for all your VBA needs. And as always, thank you for tuning in to the MrExcel podcast. We'll be back with more helpful tips and tricks for Excel in our next episode. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more Excel content. See you next time!

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Table of Contents:
(00:00) Introduction to the podcast
(00:13) Recap of previous episode's question
(00:23) Solution 1: Select another cell and hit [delete]
(00:44) Solution 2: Right click and drag the fill handle
(01:00) Promotion of Tom's product, Holy Macros
(01:21) Comparison of the two solutions
(01:49) Clicking Like really helps the algorithm

This video answers these common search terms:
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Last Thursday, we pondered how to get rid of the annoying Paste Options icon after using the fill handle. In todays podcast, suggestions from viewers Bob and Tom solve the problem. Episode 515 shows you how.

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