How do I apply a formula to an entire column in Google sheets without dragging?

Dragging the AutoFill handle is the most common way to apply the same formula to an entire column or row in Excel.

Firstly type the formula of =(A1*3+8)/5 in Cell C1, and then drag the AutoFill Handle

Note: This dragging AutoFill handle method requires formula calculation automatically. You can enable it with clicking Formulas > Calculation Options > Automatic. See below screenshot:

Sometimes, the column you want to apply the formula may covers hundreds of rows, and dragging Fill handle may be not convenient. Actually you and use shortcut keyboards to archive it easily in Excel.

Firstly, select the whole Column C, secondly enter the formula =(A1*3+8)/5, and then press the Ctrl + Enter keys together.

If you want apply the formula to an entire row, you can select the entire row first.

Copy formulas exactly/ staticallyfrom one column to another without changing cell references in Excel

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Actually there is a Fill command on Excel Ribbon to help you apply formula to an entire column or row quickly.

Firstly enter the formula =(A1*3+8)/5 into the Cell C1 (the first cell of column where you will enter the same formula), secondly select the entire Column C, and then click Home > Fill > Down.

If you want to apply the formula to entire row, just enter the formula into the first cell of your entire row, next select the entire row, and then click Home > Fill > Right.

All of above methods are to apply formulas to blank column or row. Sometimes you may need to apply the same formula to an entire column or row with data. How to process? You can try the Kutools for Excel's Operation Tools.

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1. Select the column or row that you will work with (in this case select the Column A), and click Kutools > More > Operation.

2. In the Operation Tools dialog box, select the Custom in Operation box, enter (?*3+8)/5 in the blank box in the Custom section, and click the OK button. See screenshot:

And then the whole column are filled with the formula of =(?*3+8)/5, and the ? refers to the value in corresponding cell. See below screenshots:

Notes:
(1) If you check the Create formulas option, the results will be in the form of formulas for each cell.
(2) If the Skip formula cells option is checked, the operation will skip and automatically ignore the formula cells in the selected range.

The Operation Tools can perform common math operations in multiple cells together, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, etc.
Read more

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Copy formula without changing its cell references in Excel

Show formulas in cells of specified range/active sheet/all sheets in Excel

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  Cindy · 1 years ago

  When dragging function down a column I cant get formula to go past line 30. 31 and down shows #VALUE! any suggestions?

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  Tina · 2 years ago

  I need to combine 2 columns (last name first name) into 1 column (name) and then delete the 2 columns that I combined. How do I do that?

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    Cindy · 1 years ago

    Formula =A1&" "&B2
    make sure there's a space between the "

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  · 2 years ago

  Hi, i wanted to ask something
  I want to count the total Shifts within the Shift column and put it in either Shift 1,Shift 2, or Shift 3 in column Q,R & S.
  As you can see in the picture, i already copy the formula from M2 (Circle 2) to below it.
  The thing is, i wanted to count the Shift per Each Day.
  But as you can see i had a little bit of problem. I had 2 problems :
  1. I want to copy the formula to the cell below BUT in a different day, NOT the same day, i searched on the internet and i still don't have a clue on how to do that.
  2.If there's no way to do that, is there any way that i can count the shift (i'm using COUNTIF here in Q2,R2 & S2 (Circle 3) ) from 23rd July - 30th July, without including the shift from the same day ? The point is i wanted to retrieve one shift per day, and as you can see if i retrieve the data, it counts as three/four shift per day (Circle 1).
  
  If there's any question about my problem, do feel free to ask !!
  Thank you.

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    · 2 years ago

    I forgot to attach the picture i think, here it is.

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  Saif · 3 years ago

  hi, if the cell are not the same size in a column, then how can i copy the calculation of the top cell of column to the end (there are 200 rows in that column), as example if the first cell contains three rows merged but the second one is of two rows merged then dragging option does not work, what to do then ? pls advise.

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    kellytte · 3 years ago

    Hi Saif,
    Hotkeys may work.
    Select the target column or cells you will apply formulas, type the formula in the formula bar, and then press Ctrl + Enter keys simultaneously.

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  Albana · 3 years ago

  Pershendetje , si mund te funksionoje formula ne excel pa i dhene save , sepse nuk e shfaq veprimi e kryer pa dhe save. Faleminderit!

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  Ethan · 3 years ago

  can it be used for to varting values

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  Rakesh · 4 years ago

  How i can use them in VBA?

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    · 4 years ago

    Hi Rakesh,
    All of methods introduced in the article are very easy. Is the VBA necessary?

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  sunny singh · 4 years ago

  How do i divide the one entire coloumn filled with number by 1000 or any number witout creating nother coloumn?

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    · 4 years ago

    Hi Sunny,
    
    Kutools for Excels Operation feature can help solve this problem.
    
    (1) Select the column you need to divided by a certain number;
    
    (2) Click Kutools > More > Operation;
    (3) In the Operation Tools dialog, specify Division, type in the divisor, and click OK.

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  Mansi · 4 years ago

  Hi,
  
  How can I do sum of two different column with formula?
  
  Like I want to sum of A1 and D1 and getting answer on F1 then which formula apply?

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    Santy Tanwar · 1 years ago

    you can use this formula,F1=A1+D1

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  Thao Le · 5 years ago

  This tip helps me to save a lot of time in work. I will share with my colleagues! Thank you a lot for sharing!

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  Thao Le · 5 years ago

  This instruction is very useful for me! I will share with my colleagues! It helps me to save a lot of time in work! Thank you a lot!

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  Lawrence J Gosling · 5 years ago

  Hi, I am trying to do a similar thing, but with letters. I am researching and trying to complete the civil aircraft register for the UK. I therefore need to have column A as G-AAAA to G-AZZZ on one work sheet and then G-BAAA to G-BZZZ on the next worksheet, etc. all the way to G-ZAAA to G-ZZZZ on the 25th worksheet. Is there an easy way of drag filling letters rather than numbers? As I have to manually fill each cell at the moment, which is very laborious. Thanks in advance, Lawrence

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  adam · 5 years ago

  I want to show a certain row with a specific word in it, in a specific sheet by the help of a drop down. like i creat a drop down with some specific category in it and all category have a sheet for it own data, I want to seprate all the data with that specfice word, in different sheets always as i update the sheet every time.Please let me know if any one knows the answer ASAP!!!!

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  Greifus · 5 years ago

  You can achieve the same thing by double clicking on the little square on the bottom right of the selected cell.

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  Tammy · 5 years ago

  Please i need help. How do i hide my formulas in my workbook. I don't want the formulas or the result to show in my workbook until i entered the required values in the linked column/cells. Presently, the cells either show the formula, zero or #NA. I don't want any of those to show until i have values for linked cells or columns.
  
  Thanks

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  Arjun Gupta · 5 years ago

  Working OK, Thanks...... : )

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  Julie Heyer · 5 years ago

  For the questions on getting rid of #Div/0. I'm guessing you have divided by 0 or something and want those cells to be blank.
  
  Select the whole column with the #Div/0 you don't want.
  Go to Home > Find & Select > Go to Special
  Toggle off Comments and Toggle On Formulas; Remove all checkmarks except the one in front of Errors.
  Click OK.
  You are now back to your column. You have "Found" all the "Div/0" cells.
  Click the delete key and they are now blank.

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  ikrar khan · 5 years ago

  i am write in a one colum month and pur in one colum but don`t write.sir plz help me.

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  mehjabin · 5 years ago

  i can add 45 days with a date, for that i use date+45,it is success.But i want the total the below colum with out dragging when i enter the date..any way to do that plz help me

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  victor S · 5 years ago

  In your above direction as how to 'Apply formula to an entire column or row without dragging by Fill feature', you state:
  If you want to apply the formula to entire row, just enter the formula into the first cell of your entire row, next select the entire row, and then click Home > Fill > Right.
  
  [b]this appears to work only only if the formula is in the first cell; is there any way to use the Fill feature (for rows) starting in a cell other than the first one?[/b]

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  rishi atrey · 6 years ago

  excel all formulas short cut key please toking

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  V · 6 years ago

  [quote name="K"]Dragging down doesn't work. It just repeats the values, not the formula. I have to manually type in the formula in each cell. Please tell me the correct way of repeating a formula down a column.[/quote]same issue as of K. plz help

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  BA10 · 6 years ago

  This is helpful, HOWEVER, when you copy down formulas through the whole column, it makes the spreadsheet have thousands and thousands of rows.

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    Haggstrom · 6 years ago

    Delete all the rows below your active range, e.g., if you expanded column A, there are 1048756 filled rows there but you're only using 100 rows, then in the Name box at the left side of the Formula Bar, type
    A101:A1048756
    Then press Enter and then Delete
    This worked for me, and I got it from at:
    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac/forum/macoffice2011-macexcel/how-do-i-delete-extra-rows-in-excel/5a4e26b2-39fb-47dd-a8c8-b0a5c4d1b9b4

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  snehal belhekar · 6 years ago

  hi,
  I want to copy formula, if rate 152,458,496 and Quantity 1,2,3 in first line then second line quntity 4,5,3 then third line 8,7,9 then forth line 7,9,6 so i want to calculate rate * every quntity. for example 152*1+152*2+152*3=2280.i want this formula past in every column so how do i do ?

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  Anna · 6 years ago

  I am copying formulas down a column of rows. The column cells do not change automatically. e.g. dx35,dy35,dz35. I have to manually change dx to dy etc. How do I do that?

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  AJ · 6 years ago

  if I have 1 column already with data inputted - and I wanted to add a percentage on top of each value inputted - can I formulate a single column?

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  Shelby · 6 years ago

  Hey,
  
  I am trying to create a spreadsheet, I want the numbers to go kind of like back to front? so when I press control N the first number for example will go on the line below, so basically the numbers start from small to big not big to small.
  
  I have got another spreadsheet that does do this however I cant remember how it was done and cant find out how to do it anywhere.
  
  I know I didn't explain that very well but does anyone know what I mean?

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  sajid · 6 years ago

  i am not getting my desired result i want to put formula of minus to entire row and have put c4-d5 and then dragging the line till end but the answer is not coming help me please

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  Mind · 6 years ago

  I have a totally off topic question... How did you get the cool 16-bit looking color depth in the office graphic? Is that just a byproduct of the png rendering? It looks really cool, and I kind of wish just running office in 16 bit color depth would do that, but I feel like it would just break..

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  Vinayak · 6 years ago

  Dear Sir/Madam
  I want to add formula in a xls sheet as i have dat like
  =Sheet1!A1,=Sheet1!A2,=Sheet1!A3........
  =Sheet2!A1,=Sheet2!A2,=Sheet2!A3........
  =Sheet3!A1,=Sheet3!A2,=Sheet3!A3........
  .
  .
  .
  i want to devide complete data by 1000
  ex =Sheet2!A1/1000,=Sheet2!A2/1000,=Sheet2!A3/1000........
  .
  .
  .
  .
  .
  .

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  sude69 · 6 years ago

  Thanks a lot!! :D
  :D :lol:
  rEALLY helped

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  Jane · 7 years ago

  Hi,
  
  Please can you tell me how to do a forumula to work out the number of days using dates eg 09/06/12 - 08/05/12 - when i put in the forumulation it brings up a date instead of number of days.

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  M · 7 years ago

  This was easy and so helpful ~Thanks~

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  Nancy · 7 years ago

  very helpful and easy to follow!

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  barcad · 7 years ago

  I have the same problem as Harris above. How do I go about it?

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  Janine · 7 years ago

  This may be a simple question for you guys/gals, but I'm clueless. after I've applied my formulas how do I get rid of the #DIV/0???

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    Julie · 4 years ago

    [quote name="Janine"]This may be a simple question for you guys/gals, but I'm clueless. after I've applied my formulas how do I get rid of the #DIV/0???[/quote]
    Select the whole area that includes all the #DIV/0
    Go to "Find & Select" -
    Go to SPECIAL.
    Click the radio button in front of Formulas.
    Unclick Numbers, Text, Logicals - which leaves only "Errors" Checked.
    Click OK
    Now all the Div/0 will be highlighted and nothing else.
    Use you delete key and they will disappear.

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    DJ · 7 years ago

    Your cell is to small? Widen the cell by dragging to the right.

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  Harish · 7 years ago

  hii
  
  I am not be able to drag below mentioned formula
  =E15*E11/E63
  I want E11 and E63 to remain same only E15 to be change as cell wise
  
  
  
  pls help
  
  regards
  Harish Balam

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    Donna · 7 years ago

    To copy the formula and change it automatically, do the following:
    Select cell D2
    Click on the Copy button in the Home ribbon (or press Control+C on the keyboard) to copy the cell formula
    Mark cells D3 through D11 (put the mouse on cell D3, click the left mouse button and leave it pressed, then move the mouse to cell D11 and release the mouse button)
    Click on the Paste button in the Home ribbon (or press Control+V on the keyboard) to paste the formula to the cells you selected
    And the formula is automatically applied to all the selected cells.
    http://www.excel-formulas.com/mathematical-excel-formulas/apply-formula-to-row.php
    Worked for me, it should for you too.

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  J · 7 years ago

  I want to add column c to column D for each row and put the result in column E...How do I do that?

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    JDA · 7 years ago

    Here is the formula I wrote to accomplish that task:
    =CONCATENATE(INDIRECT("D"&ROW())," ",INDIRECT("E"&ROW()))
    I wanted the system to take the text from columns D and E in the current row and put them in the column with the formula. I was working with text. You may need to incorporate the SUM function if you want to combine numbers. Row() tells it to use the current row number. Good luck!

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      yen · 6 years ago

      Thank for this,
      
      But what will do when row D have not continuously series i.e. if any blank cell available there and i want print above cell value in blank cell and then concatenate the both cell

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  waddah · 7 years ago

  thanks a lot, really very helpful

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  kipling · 7 years ago

  How does one apply an equation for a different row? For example,I used =COUNTIF(C8:C19,"

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  Doru · 7 years ago

  "=IF(B24=N5:N18,N4,IF(B24=O5:O19,O4,IF(B24=P5:P13,P4,L4)))"
  
  I have this formula for comparing text cells. But it works only for row 5 if i introduce values for above it shows me L4 value.
  Can you help me with this?

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  Ramachandran · 7 years ago

  if 5 column and 5 Row given with some sales and Clents and Fixed Percentage So HOw to put it in excel cal

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  Ericfinaly · 7 years ago

  very helpful thank you!

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  Bubbalo · 7 years ago

  I have the same issue as K above. What is the solution? It did not appear in the string of comments. Thanks

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    $$$$ · 6 years ago

    it helped but ohhh noooo

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  K · 8 years ago

  Dragging down doesn't work. It just repeats the values, not the formula. I have to manually type in the formula in each cell. Please tell me the correct way of repeating a formula down a column.

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    Bubbalo · 7 years ago

    Go into Formulas>Calculation Options and change the option to automatic if its in manual. Then highlight the cells where you want the formula to go and click Fill>Down.

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      senthil · 7 years ago

      Thanks ... u saved my time :eek:

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  paolo · 8 years ago

  thanks a lot man....!!!!!!!!!!!
  
  
  .

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  Roshan Bhandari · 8 years ago

  This formula is very useful for my daily office work.

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  Sarvesh · 8 years ago

  :-) Wow its very Usefull!!!

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