Excel Basics:
AutoFill Formulas

Step-by-Step: AutoFill Formulas

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What you will learn:

to create a simple formula to AutoFill a formula down a column

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When a trip is sold at World Travel Inc., the Total Sale is calculated by multiplying the number people going on the trip by the cost per person. You will create the formula that calculates this. Then you will copy the formula to other Total Sale cells.

Start with: trips5.xls (saved in previous lesson)

Formula: Enter

1. Select cell E5.
    
2. Type = , then click on cell C5.
   
3. Type an asterisk * (the one on the keypad is easier) and click on cell D5.
   
4. Press ENTER. The value is calculated and is shown in the cell E5. In the Formula bar you see the formula used.

    If you forget to press ENTER, your mouse clicks will continue trying to put cell references in the Formula Bar. This creates quite a mess!

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AutoFill: Formula

1. With cell E5 still selected, drag the fill handle down to copy the formula into cells E6:E23.
    
2. Click on each cell in the range E6:E23 and check the formula in the formula bar.

   AutoFill changed the formula for each cell. This only works when the values used in the calculations are neatly arranged in rows and columns. It pays to be neat!

3. Save As  trips6.xls .
   How to handle a full disk

If you find some of your numbers look like ######, the column is just not wide enough to show all the digits in the numbers. Simply make the column wider.