Knowledge Base

XL97: AutoFill Limited to 255 Characters

Article ID: 156350

Article Last Modified on 10/21/2000

Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q156350

SYMPTOMS

When you fill a series in a range of cells, the AutoFill feature may not update the series values in these cells. This behavior occurs if you either use the fill handle to fill a cell value down (or across) a range of cells or if you point to Fill on the Edit menu and then click Series.

CAUSE

In Microsoft Excel, you may enter 32,767 characters into a cell, but the AutoFill feature will not work on cells that contain more than 255 characters. Instead of detecting and filling a series, Microsoft Excel will instead copy the cells.

MORE INFORMATION

By dragging the fill handle of a cell, you can copy that cell to other cells in the same row or column. If the cell contains a number, date, or time period that Microsoft Excel can extend in a series, the values are incremented. For example, if you have Qtr1 in cell A1, and you fill this down to cell A4, you will end up with the following:

A1: Qtr1
A2: Qtr2
A3: Qtr3
A4: Qtr4

REFERENCES

For more information about AutoFill, click the Index tab in Microsoft Excel Help, type the following text

entering data, series

and then double-click the selected text to go to the "Fill in a series of numbers, dates, or other items" topic.

Additional query words: XL97 8.0 auto fill

Keywords: kbualink97 kbprb KB156350