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Fill, copy and paste

Drag the fill handle to continue a series or copy a formula, fill down or right from the keyboard, and copy, cut and paste cells, including from other apps.

All plansUpdated

Filling saves typing. Drag from a cell and PlexiiSheets continues what you started: 1, 2, 3; Jan, Feb, Mar; Item 1, Item 2. Fill a formula down a column and each row's copy points at its own row. Copy and paste work across the grid, and you can paste a block straight in from another spreadsheet app.

Before you start

  • Plans. Filling, copying and pasting are on every plan.

Fill with the fill handle

  1. Select the cell, or cells, to start from.
  2. Find the fill handle: the small square at the bottom right corner of the selection.
  3. Drag it down, up, left or right over the cells to fill. The cells about to be filled are tinted.
  4. Let go.

Double-click the fill handle to fill down as far as the data in the column next to it goes. This is the quick way to copy a formula down a long table.

What filling does

You start with Filling gives
Two or more numbers, such as 1 and 2, or 10 and 20 The series continued: 3, 4, 5 or 30, 40, 50.
One number The same number, copied.
A month or day name, such as Jan or Monday The following months or days: Feb, Mar or Tuesday, Wednesday.
A date written as year-month-day, such as 2026-10-15 The following days. Two dates continue at the same interval.
Text ending in a number, such as Item 1 or Q01 The number counts up: Item 2, Item 3; Q02, Q03.
A formula, such as =B2*C2 The formula copied, with its references moved along: =B3*C3, =B4*C4. References with $ stay put.
Anything else The same text, repeated.

After you fill from numbers, a bar above the grid says how the cells were filled, with a button to switch between copy (the same value in every cell) and series (counting on).

Fill from the keyboard

Select a range first, then:

Keys (Mac / Windows) What it does
⌘ D / Ctrl D Fills down: copies the top row of the selection into the rows below it.
⌘ R / Ctrl R Fills right: copies the left column of the selection into the columns to its right.
⌘ Enter / Ctrl Enter Fills every selected cell with the content of the cell you are on.

Formulas filled this way move their references along, just as with the fill handle.

Copy, cut and paste

Keys (Mac / Windows) What it does
⌘ C / Ctrl C Copies the selected cells.
⌘ X / Ctrl X Copies the selected cells and empties them.
⌘ V / Ctrl V Pastes at the selected cell.

How a paste lands depends on what you select first:

  • One cell selected: the copied block is pasted with its top-left corner there. The sheet grows if the block needs more rows or columns.
  • A range selected, one value copied: the value goes into every selected cell.
  • A range selected, a block copied: the block repeats to fill the range.

Formulas when you paste

  • Copied within PlexiiSheets, a formula's references move with it, so =B2*C2 copied one row down becomes =B3*C3.
  • Copied from another app, a formula is pasted exactly as it was written.

Paste from other apps

Copy a block of cells in another spreadsheet app and paste it into a cell. Each value goes into its own cell. Text with tabs between values and a new line for each row comes in the same way.

Copying from PlexiiSheets puts the cells on the clipboard as text with tabs between them, which other spreadsheets paste as cells.

Clear cells

Select the cells and press Delete or Backspace. This empties them but keeps their formatting.

Common questions

Filling a number copied it instead of counting up. Start with two numbers that show the step, such as 1 and 2, select both, and fill again.

My filled formula points at the wrong cell. Put a $ before the part that should not move, such as =B2*$E$1, and fill again. See Formulas, functions and named ranges.

Can I undo a fill or paste? Yes. Press ⌘ Z on a Mac or Ctrl Z on Windows.

Still need help? Contact support at [email protected].