📎 This article includes 1 downloadable practice file ↓
In this article
Half the problems in Excel files start at data entry: dates typed as text, “Delhi” spelt three ways, numbers with spaces. Five minutes learning how Excel reads what you type saves hours of fixing later. And AutoFill and Flash Fill can type most of your data for you.
How Excel reads what you type
| You type | Excel stores |
|---|---|
| 2500 | A number (right-aligned) |
| 2,500 or ₹2500 | A number with formatting |
| 04/10/2026 or 4-Oct-2026 | A date (stored as a number: days since 1900) |
| 18% | 0.18, formatted as a percentage |
| 00042 | 42 (leading zeros dropped) |
| ‘00042 | The text 00042 (the apostrophe keeps it as text) |
| 9876543210 | A number; fine for mobiles, but use text for anything starting with 0 |
The fill handle
Select a cell and look at its bottom-right corner: the small square is the fill handle. Drag it down or across:
| Start with | Drag gives |
|---|---|
| Jan | Feb, Mar, Apr … |
| Monday | Tuesday, Wednesday … |
| 04-Oct-2026 | 05-Oct, 06-Oct … (one day at a time) |
| 100 and 125 (select both) | 150, 175, 200 … (Excel continues the step) |
| Q1 | Q2, Q3, Q4, Q1 … |
| Invoice-001 | Invoice-002, Invoice-003 … |
| A formula | The formula copied down, adjusting to each row |
After dragging, click the small Auto Fill Options button to switch between Fill Series, Copy Cells, Fill Weekdays (skips weekends) or Fill Months.
Fill several cells at once
- Ctrl + Enter: select a range, type a value, press Ctrl+Enter, and every selected cell gets it.
- Ctrl + D: copy the cell above into the selected cells (fill Down). Ctrl + R fills right.
- Ctrl + ; types today’s date; Ctrl + Shift + ; types the current time. Both are fixed values, not formulas.
- Home › Fill › Series for precise series: steps of 7 days, stop at a date, growth series.
Flash Fill: Excel spots the pattern
Column A has “Ravi Kumar”, “Anita Sharma”. In B2 type Ravi, move to B3 and press Ctrl + E. Excel fills every first name. It works for:
- First or last names, initials (“R. Kumar”)
- Joining: first name + “.” + last name + “@company.in”
- Pulling the PIN code out of an address
- Reformatting phone numbers: 9876543210 → 98765-43210
- Fixing case: “pune” → “Pune”
Flash Fill types plain values. If the source changes, it won’t update; for that you need formulas (the practice file shows the formula version of each Flash Fill result).
Rules for data you’ll use later
- One header row, one record per row, no blank rows in between.
- One kind of value per column: don’t mix “Absent” with marks, or notes with amounts.
- Real dates, not text like “4th Oct”.
- Same spelling every time; use drop-down lists (Lesson 15) for repeated values.
- No merged cells inside data.
Where beginners go wrong
| Mistake | Problem later |
|---|---|
| Typing 1-2 for a size or ratio | Excel turns it into 1 February |
| Spaces before numbers | They become text and don’t add up |
| Codes like 00042 typed as numbers | Leading zeros lost; format as Text first or type an apostrophe |
| Long numbers (16+ digits) like card or account numbers | Excel keeps only 15 digits; store them as text |
Practice
Download this lesson’s workbook below. The Staff sheet has names, joining dates and cities; build date series, first/last names and email ids. Type your answers in the yellow column; the Check column turns green when you’re right, and the Answers sheet shows a working formula for every task.
📎 Practice files for this article
- 📗Lesson 2 practice workbookA staff list with names, joining dates and cities: date series, first/last names and email ids.⬇ XLSX · 13 KB
Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.
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