Row numbering selection auto-fill till the end [closed]

Question

I have a table with thousands of lines. I want to number rows by adding 1 2 3 next to first rows, then to select these and drag till end to make a fill with increasing numbers.

How to autofill till last row without dragging with a mouse for several minutes?

Answer 1

Do you know how to double-click the autofill handle? If you put 1,2 in the first two cells, then select both cells and double-click the little black box in the bottom right corner, it should "automagically" do what you are asking. It will fill for as many rows as there are filled cells adjacent to it. Quite a handy trick.

For example, see http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/fill-data-automatically-in-worksheet-cells-HP001216366.aspx

Tips You can also fill the active cell with the formula of an adjacent cell by using the Fill command (on the Home tab in the Editing group) or by pressing CTRL+D to fill a cell below or CTRL+R to fill a cell to the right of the cell containing the formula. You can automatically fill a formula downward, for all adjacent cells that it applies to, by double-clicking the fill handle of the first cell that contains the formula. For example, cells A1:A15 and B1:B15 contain numbers, and you type the formula =A1+B1 in cell C1. To copy that formula into cells C2:C15, select cell C1 and double-click the fill handle.