5 Ways to Fix AutoFill Not Working in Microsoft Excel for Windows

Pankil is a Civil Engineer turned freelance writer. Since his arrival at Guiding Tech in 2021, he delves into the world of how-tos, and troubleshooting guides for Android, iOS, and Windows. Besides his new-found love for mechanical keyboards, he’s a disciplined footfall fan and loves international travel with his wife.

Basic Fixes

Fix 1: Enable Fill Handle

To use the AutoFill feature in Excel, ensure the fill handle is enabled. If not, you will not see the small plus sign when you move your cursor towards the bottom right corner of a cell.

Step 1:Open Microsoft Excel and click theFilemenu at the top left corner.

Step 2:SelectOptionsfrom the left pane.

Step 3:Switch to theAdvancedtab and tick the boxes forEnable fill handle and cell drag-and-dropandAlert before overwriting cells. Then, clickOK.

Fix 2: Check Calculation Options

AutoFill in Excel can also help you apply the same formula to a series of cells. However, your formulas might not calculate the result if the automatic calculation option is not active in Excel.

Open Excel on your PC > click theFormulastab >Calculation Options> selectAutomaticfrom the resulting menu. Once you do that, the AutoFill feature should work as expected.

Fix 3: Remove Unnecessary Filters

Applying filters in your Excel sheet can also prevent the AutoFill feature from working. This is because Excel only considers the visible cells when filling in data, leading to unexpected results. Try removing unwanted filters in Excel and see if that fixes the issue.

Open your Excel sheet and switch to theDatatab. In theSort & Filtersection, click onClear. After that, see if the AutoFill feature works.

Fix 4: Use the Fill Command

Although clicking and dragging cells is the most typical method of utilizing the AutoFill feature, it’s not the only one. You can try the Fill command in the Home tab to see if that works.

Open your Excel sheet > select the cell with the data and the adjacent cells you want to fill. Under theHometab, click theFilloption in theEditingsection > choose thetype of fillyou want to use.

Fix 5: Run the Office Repair Tool

Microsoft includes a handy repair tool for fixing variousissues with Officeapps. You can try running this tool to see if it makes the AutoFill feature work in Microsoft Excel.

Step 1:Press theWindows key + Rto open the Run dialog box. Typeappwiz.cplin the box and pressEnter.

Step 2:In the Programs and Features window, locate and select the Office suite or Microsoft 365 on the list. Then, click onChangeat the top.

Step 3:SelectOnline Repairand clickRepair.

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Last updated on 05 June, 2024

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