Osman Goni Ridwan
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. 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.
Steps to Enable Drag Formula in Excel
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 and go to the File tab, and select Options from the bottom of the menu.
Read More: Excel Fill Down to Next Value
📌 Step 2: Go to Advanced Options
Now, a window named “Excel Options” will open. Then, go to the Advanced option.
📌 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.
Thank you thank you! I followed each step listed on this article and it fixed my problem! the “automatic” button somehow got switch to manual and i had no idea! thank you! this article helped me save so much time!
Dear Jidith Savidge,
You are most welcome.
Regards
ExcelDemy