Forum Discussion
TonyOne_Savage
Jul 02, 2021Copper Contributor
How to disable sequential numbering for a *specific* column in spreadsheet?
Would anyone be kind enough to help me solve disabling sequential numbering for specific columns in my spreadsheet? It's confidential information for work so I cannot share but essentially I want to drag a row down to automatically copy cells instead of filling series by default. So if I had something like TELC-18Z009, I want it to copy instead of TELC-18Z010, 11, etc.
I know I can outright disable the drag + fill feature, but the sequential numbering feature is useful for other columns I have in the spreadsheet. I know that I can also hold ctrl as I drag and fill but I'd like to stop doing that and just straight up drag + fill instead. I've tried changing the column 'Number format' to 'Text' but that hasn't resulted in anything new.
Also curious to hear if there's a way to change the default outcome after dragging + filling. For some of my columns the pop-out button is 'Copy Cells' and for others it is 'Fill Series'. If I can find a way to force it to default to one or the other that would also be a great workaround.
Thank you!
- iwasamyCopper Contributor
None of these solutions is working for me. I'm on a Mac, and having this problem with dates in a column.
I want to drag/copy dates for several rows in a column whose format is set to date, and it keeps counting up to the next date rather than copying the same date.
Tried changing format to General and Text. The only thing that did was make it sequentially increase the year instead of date.
Tried holding down Command, Option (alt), Control, and Shift while dragging, and none worked.
- Riny_van_EekelenPlatinum Contributor
iwasamy On a Mac you need to press and hold Alt while dragging. No Shift, Cmd or ctrl. Just Alt. The cursor will change from a larger black + to one with a smaller + sign above and to the right of it.
- iwasamyCopper Contributor
As I stated, I tried alt drag. Here's the result.
I've tried them all systematically, and none works.
- ALamm760Copper Contributor
TonyOne_Savage I'm a little late to the game here, but this one bugged me, too!
I solved the issue by formatting the column as General, as formatting it as Text or Number (with no decimal spaces) caused it to pull in sequence.
- AdamChmielewskiCopper ContributorOne workaround is that you can use a formula
="TELC-18Z009"
That way if you drag, you just copy the formula and the value is always the same. - Riny_van_EekelenPlatinum Contributor
TonyOne_Savage Press and hold the alt-key while dragging down. That should do it.
- mtarlerSilver ContributorFor me it is the <ctrl> key that will stop the increment (force copy instead of sequence) as noted in the original post.
That said another alternative I found is you can click and drag using the right mouse button and it will bring up a contextual menu with multiple options (similar to pop-out button but automatically opens). Not sure that really solves the original complaint though.