Forum Discussion
Can no longer drag my mouse to expand a selection
Not sure what the move is called, but I can no longer click on a selection in Excel and expand that selection.
Open a blank sheet, select A1, and there's that little dot in the bottom right corner. You used to be able to grab that dot and expand your selection both horizontally and vertically at the same time. No longer, just one direction at a time.
Where it's really getting in my way is that I used to selected one row. Grab that dot, and expand my row selection for as many rows as I want. That ability, and dot, is totally gone.
Did something change? Did I somehow change a setting within my Excel?
Please help.
Thanks
I don't know about Mac, but in Windows it has never been possible to drag the 'fill handle' to the right and down at the same time - one can only drag it to the right, then drag it down, or vice versa.
To display the fill handle: select Preferences from the Excel menu at the top.
Select Edit.
Tick the check box 'Allow fill handle and cell drag-and-drop' in the Edit Options section.
- I just checked and that box is selected.
I know for a fact, I could do it for rows. I can no longer do it and have no idea what has happened SergioDCQ The dot (bottom corner of the selection) is at the bottom left corner of A5. This is what it looks like if you have the entire row selected.
There is a distinction between expanding your selection and dragging that dot (known as the "fill handle").
Dragging the fill handle will copy the cells in the selection to the area where you drag and release.
Expanding your selection does not require the fill handle. You can simply click anywhere, hold the mouse button down, and drag to expand your selection. If you already have more than one cell selected, you can hold down the Shift key and then click-drag with your mouse to expand the selection.
