Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Using the Fill Handle from the Keyboard.

Using the Fill Handle from the Keyboard

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 11, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365

1

The fill handle is very helpful for filling cells with various values. Select some cells, click the fill handle, and drag it to fill cells in a variety of ways. If you hate to use the mouse (or at least want to minimize your use of the mouse), you may long for a way to utilize the fill handle by only using the keyboard.

The easiest way to do this is to display the Series dialog box by using these steps:

  1. Use the keyboard to select the cells on which you want the fill based.
  2. Hold down the Alt key as you press, in turn, E, I, S. Excel displays the Series dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The Series dialog box.

  3. Use the Tab key to move from option to option within the dialog box.
  4. When you've chosen the option you want, press Enter to select it.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12045) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Using the Fill Handle from the Keyboard.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Shortcuts for Basic Style Formatting

Want to get your text away from the explicit formatting you applied, back to the underlying formatting? Here are a couple ...

Discover More

Copying Tables to a New Document

Tables are a great way to organize information in a document. For some editing needs, you may want to create a new ...

Discover More

Turning Off Smart Quotes for Specific Styles

Smart quotes can be helpful in making a great-looking document, but at times, they can be a real pain. Wouldn’t it be ...

Discover More

Excel Smarts for Beginners! Featuring the friendly and trusted For Dummies style, this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running with Excel while also helping more experienced users get comfortable with the newest features. Check out Excel 2019 For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Importing a Subset of Records

If you only want to import a portion of whatever records are in a text file, Excel provides a number of ways you can ...

Discover More

Changing Multiple Cells at Once

Excel includes several different methods of editing information in your cells. If you want to edit multiple cells all at ...

Discover More

Pasting Multiple Paragraphs Into a Single Cell

Copying information from one program (such as Word) to another (such as Excel) is a common occurrence. If you want to ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 6 + 1?

2023-03-11 07:22:20

Alex Blakenburg

While I prefer Alt E I S as being shorter. That is the key sequence based on the Old 2003 and prior menus. Excel will give you more help if you use the new menu path which is Alt H FI S
Using the new menu key sequence, excel will display the next keys to apply along the way.

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2026 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.