If you have been using Google Spreadsheet (or any spreadsheet app) for a while, then you certainly have used the fill handle. The fill handle is the one that appears on the bottom-right side of a highlighted cell once you hover over that area. You can drag the range or formula up, down, left or right. Depending on the value(s) you selected, the smart fill handle will put adjacent and matching values in the cells. It is a quick method to duplicate and apply formulas down an entire column (or even row) in Google Spreadsheet.
While dragging the handle seems like an effective method, it’s not so efficient when you have to drag across thousands of cells.
There are other quicker ways to do that. This post deals with two of those simple ways.
Method 1: Double Click
Did you ever think of double clicking the fill handle?
Try it now. If there are values in the cells on the left or right, then the double click on the square (fill handle) works like a charm. It will copy the formula in the cells below.
The number of cells that the formula is copied to depends on how many cells on the left or right are filled with values. It will prioritize the number of cells on the left.
Method 2: Paste Formula Only
In Google Spreadsheet, you can highlight certain cells and copy them the usual way. Then, you can highlight the cells that need to use the same formula and then, right click on it. On the right click menu, you will see Paste formula only. That option will paste the formula to the highlighted cells.
This option is a bit different than the simple double click option. While the double click option doesn’t allow us to control the number of cells below that the formula is copied to, this one does. You can highlight as many cells as you want and then choose the Paste formula only right click option.
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