Copy series in cells, 1,2,3,4..etc

Which version of Numbers are you using?

This method is confirmed to work on Numbers 3.6.2/OS X 10.11.6、4.0.5 and 4.1 / OS X 10.12.4.

Select 2 or more cells as the beginning of series, then move the cursor on to the edge which you wish to expand.

The edge will get yellow point on its center.

# The bottom edge, In the case of the example shown below.

# The yellow point comes up only if the cursor is on or just outside of the edge.

Drag down the yellow point that comes up on the edge, to expand the series.

# while expanding the selection, the whole edges turns into yellow.

If the original sections are not recognized as series, the cells pattern is just copied into the expanded cells.

[ example of cells not recognized as series. ]

Just one cell -> the expanded cells are just copy of original

1,2,4 -> 1,2,4,1,2,4

a,B -> a,B,a,B

# a,b is OK. So, it is case-sensitive for auto-fill.

Reference: Search "autofill" in Numbers Help ( available under Help menu )

https://help.apple.com/numbers/mac/4.1/index.html#/tanbc336eea7 (Numbers 4.1)

https://help.apple.com/numbers/mac/4.0/index.html#/tanbc336eea7 (Numbers 4.0.x)

https://help.apple.com/numbers/mac/3.6/index.html#/tan90d4d2a40 (Numbers 3.6.x)

Hi Mike,

"When I create a pattern 1,2,3 and then try to drag down to expand it I only copy the last number in the series"

I think your error may have been to enter 1, 2 and 3, then with only the cell containing 3 selected to drag down to fill the rest of the rows. For an arithmetic series, Numbers needs at least two seed values selected to determine the interval of the series. In this table, the first three values were entered in cells B2-B4 and cells C2-C4. B4 and C4 were then selected, and the yellow fill handle dragged down to fill the values into the rest of the rows in these two columns.

Note that the number series (an arithmetic progression with an interval of 1) did not continue, as only one 'seed' value (3, in cell B4) was selected to seed the series. What follows is an arithmetic series, but one with an increment of zero.

But in column C, the alpha-numeric series did continue, even though only a single 'seed' value ("A3" in cell C4) had been selected. A text string that ends with a number (of one or more digits) will produce a series where the part before the number remains the same, and the number at the end of the string progresses with an interval of 1.

Intervals other than 1 are also possible. In this case, at least 2 cells must be selected for either the number or the alpha-numeric series.

Some other series with a default increment are the three in the table below (Column D is another example of the alpha-numeric series above).

Regards,

Barry

depending on your situation, you can also use the formula

=row()

to place a count in a column that will automatically expand as you increase the table size

select cell A1, then type

=row()

shorthand for this is:

A1=row()

select cell A1, copy

select column A, paste

Hi Mike,

Adding to the excellent replies by To_Mi and Wayne:

If you have a Header Row in that table,

Formula in B3 (and Fill down)

=B2+1

Regards,

Ian.