When you copy a cell that has a formula in it and paste it to a range of multiple cells, it will copy that formula to each cell in the range with an adjusted reference, just like autofill does. Just like with autofill, copying and pasting a formula will automatically adjust the cell references when moving from one column/row to another. It's good to note that using autofill on formulas is effectively the same as copying and pasting cells with formulas in them from one location to another (by using Ctrl + C to copy, and Ctrl + V to paste). To describe the examples in this article I will stick to the traditional way of teaching how to autofill formulas, which is to click and drag the fill handle until the desired cell/range has been reached / copied to.īut in your case you may have hundreds or even thousands of rows, and so below I'll also mention some different shortcuts that you can use to make things faster, especially when you have a large number of columns or rows to be filled / copied to. If you actually want a formula in every single cell of a column, it can be as simple as copying your formula, selecting the entire column, and then pasting the formula into the entire column (more on this below). In the examples below we will be copying formulas down a range of cells, such as C3:C17, which we will refer to as a "column"… since when it comes to real world spreadsheet applications, where we usually have headers in our sheet, if we are talking about applying formulas to a "column", we are often referring to a range of cells within that column. If you are searching for a way to apply a formula to an entire column, you might have been searching for a single formula that can handle that task without having to copy multiple formulas, and this can be done by using the ARRAYFORMULA function.īut in this article we will stick to using autofill / fill down to copy formulas. "Automatically Create a Series of Values" Autofill vs. If you want to learn how to use autofill / fill down to create a series of values, then check out the article linked below. However, autofill can also be used to create a series / sequence of values, such as quickly creating a list of numbers or sequence of dates. There are a variety of ways to use autofill in Google Sheets, but in this article we will specifically be using autofill to copy formulas. There is a way to prevent these references from changing if you want, but we will save that for later. Or if this formula were copied into the cell to the right of it, the copied formula would have adjusted its column references, and would then be: =C2+D2 When this formula is copied into the cell below it, the copied formula will have adjusted its row references, and will now be: =A3+B3 When using autofill with formulas, Google Sheets will automatically adjust the cell references in the formulas to account for the formulas being placed inside a different column/row.Īs a quick example of this reference adjustment that happens when copying formulas, which I will go over in detail later… notice the formula that is entered into cell C2 in the picture above: =A2+B2 Learn how to create dashboards in Google Sheets Automatic cell reference adjustment when copying formulas Later in this article you will be able to see a full example of copying/filling the formula that is shown in cell C2 down the column into the cells below it. This picture is an example of what it will look like when your cursor is in the correct location to use autofill / fill down.Īt the bottom right of cell C2 (blue cell), you can see that the cursor looks like a plus sign. When you hover your mouse over the small blue square that displays at the bottom right corner of a cell selection, your cursor will turn into a plus sign (cross), and this is what is called the "fill handle". This article shows how to copy formulas in Google Sheets, but click here if you want to learn how to copy formulas in Excel. Click on a cell with a formula in it, press Ctrl + C on the keyboard to copy it, then select another cell, and press Ctrl + V on the keyboard to paste the formulaĬlick here to get your Google Sheets cheat sheet
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