How to Enable Drag Formula in Excel (With Quick Steps)

While using Microsoft Excel, we use the drag formula regularly. In Excel, it is enabled by default. But for many reasons, it may get disabled. So, in this article, I will show you how to enable drag formula in Excel.

What is Drag & Drop in Excel?

In Excel, the drag & drop and fill handle options exist. You can use them for moving and copying cells, formulas, and formats to others.

• You can move a cell by mouse only in Microsoft Excel. For this, you have to place the mouse cursor at a cell border then it will change to the move cursor and after doing this, drag that cell to the target location.

• You can copy the cell or cells by mouse only in Microsoft Excel. Also, you can use Fill Handle to copy formula in Excel. For this, hold down the CTRL key and place the mouse cursor on the cell border then you will see that the mouse cursor converts to a Copy Cursor, and after that,  drag the cell to the target location.

What is Fill-Handle Tool?

You can copy and paste formulas by dragging any point of border corner in Microsoft Excel. The name of this cursor is Fill Handle. You can drag the fill handle cursor down, up, left, or right in any direction to copy the formula of that cell to the adjacent cells of the drag direction.

How to Enable Drag Formula in Excel: Step-by-Step Procedure

Sometimes, while working in Microsoft Excel, you may find that the drag & drop cursor or the fill handle tool is not showing up. If this occurs, you may need to enable these options. I am showing here the steps to enable them.

📌 Step 1: Go to Options from File Tab

At first, open the Excel file, go to the File tab, and select Options from the bottom of the menu.

Read More: How to Use Fill Handle in Excel

📌 Step 2: Go to Advanced Options

Now, a window named “Excel Options” will open. Then, go to the Advanced option.

Read More: How to Drag Formula in Excel with Keyboard 

📌 Final Step: Mark ‘Enable fill handle and cell drag-and-drop’ Checkbox

After that, in the advanced option, go to the Editing Options. Under the Editing Options, find the box named ‘Enable fill handle and cell drag-and-drop’ and mark them.

As a result, you have enabled the drag & drop option successfully. Now, press OK. Then go back to the worksheet and try these options.

Read More: How to Drag Formula and Ignore Hidden Cells in Excel

Excel Drag Formula Not Working Issue

Often you can face this problem that even after enabling the drag & drop option, it is not working. If it happens then I have a possible solution for this. To learn the solution, go through the following steps.

Steps:

• At first, go to the top ribbon and select the Formulas tab.
• Then, under the Formulas tab, go to the Calculations Options. And, there 3 options will open.
• From them, select the Automatic option

• By doing this, I think the problem will be solved. Now, try again the drag & drop formulas.

Read More: [Solved]: Fill Handle Not Working in Excel

Conclusion

In this article, I have shown you the procedure of how to enable drag formula in Excel. And I have tried to show you what to do when the drag formula is not working even after enabling it. After reading this article, I believe you will be able to enable drag formula in Excel. I hope you found this article helpful. Please, drop comments, suggestions, or queries if you have any in the comment section below.

Related Articles

• How to Drag Cells in Excel Using Keyboard
• How to Drag Formula Horizontally with Vertical Reference in Excel
• How to Fill Formula Down to Specific Row in Excel
• Excel Fill Down to Next Value

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