Autofill And Custom Lists In Excel 2007

Excel's AutoFill feature relies on the program's ability to recognize patterns in the data that you enter. For example, if you type "Week 1" in a cell, you can have the program automatically fill in "Week 2", "Week 3", etc. by using the AutoFill handle. This is located in the bottom right of the cell. As the cursor moves over it, the cursor changes appearance to a plus sign (+). When it does so you simply click, hold, drag in any direction and Excel will pick up the pattern and extrapolate it to create automatic data entries.
Whenever you make use of the AutoFill handle Excel displays the AutoFill Options drop down menu below the last cell which has been generated. If the program has not entered the required data, you can choose one of the entries in the AutoFill Options so that it knows what you actually meant it to do. For example, choosing Copy Cells, gives you an exact copy of what was in the original cell.
Excel is also capable of automatically entering an arbitrary series of data using a feature called Custom Lists. There are certain lists built into Excel, for example, the months of the year. To use the AutoFill feature, you need to enter the first value in the list, for example, "January" or "Jan". Next, you drag the AutoFill handle (located in the bottom right of the cell) in any direction to have Excel automatically enter the rest of the custom list.
In addition to Excel's built-in lists, you can also create your own custom lists. For example, let's say we work for a company that has branches in several towns. We would almost certainly need to list these towns quite frequently in our spreadsheets. We could save ourselves a fair amount of time by setting up the towns as a custom list.
Creating a custom list is really easy. First, select the cells in one of your worksheets that contain the necessary information. Second, click on the Office button and choose Excel options. Third, click on "Edit Custom Lists" in the "Popular" category. Excel displays the entries that were in the cells that we highlighted. Finally, to convert the selected data into a custom list, click on the "Import" button.
Having created a custom list, you can use it in any of your worksheets, not just the one that contained the original information. To conjure up the entries in the list, simply enter the first value. Next, drag the AutoFill handle and Excel will generate the remaining entries. When you use this facility, you are able to drag in any direction and you don't have to start with the first entry in the custom list.
You can also create custom lists directly in the "Custom Lists" dialog box. Simply click on the "List Entries" button and enter the elements separated by a carriage return. When you have finished entering your list, click on the Add button.
To delete a custom list, simply click on it and click on the "Delete" button. Excel verifies that you want to delete the list and when you click "OK", the list is gone.

By: Matthew Fletcher

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

The author is a training consultant with OnSiteTrainingCourses.Com, an independent computer training company offering Microsoft Excel training courses at their central London training centre.