Excel - auto-fill settings

I've been wrestling with this for a while now, and things are getting a bit urgent... maybe someone here can save me some trouble and help me snag those top marks on my exam 😁 .
I've been digging through tutorials and found something, but for some reason, it just isn't working. A basic sequence works fine, but I need it to look like this:

for example,
Buyer1
Buyer 2
...
continuing down to: Buyer 7

I get a list, but after "Buyer 2," it puts the number 2 in the cell, then in the one after "Buyer 3" comes the number 3, then "Buyer 4," followed by 4, and so on.

So it ends up looking like this:
Buyer1
Buyer 2
2
Buyer 3
3
Buyer 4
4
etc.

------------------

The second thing I need—and honestly, the bigger headache—is how to automatically fill in dates from, say, 10/10/2006 to 01/31/2007.

I type in the first two:
10/10/2006
10/11/2006

After that, Excel just carries on with 10/12/2006 and then just keeps repeating those three dates over and over.😢

Does anyone have an idea how to fix this? 🙂 I'm sure it's incredibly simple for anyone who actually knows what they're doing...

Here’s how you handle it:

Problem1
In the cell where you want to start, type in Buyer1. Hit Enter. Once you do, the selection will move down to the next row. Click on the cell you just typed in; you'll see a tiny black square in the bottom right corner. Grab that little square with your mouse and drag it down as far as you need to go—just make sure you keep the mouse button held down while you're dragging.

Problem2
It’s basically the same process as Problem1. Type in the date you want—let's say 1/1/2001—but whatever you do, don't put a period after the year. If you do, Excel won't recognize it as an actual date (some kind of glitch, I suppose). Just type 1/1/2001 and drag that little square down until you reach the end date. When you're done, the dates should be highlighted in blue. That's what we want. Don't click anywhere else while they're selected, or you'll lose the highlight and have to start all over again. While they're still highlighted, go to Format -> Cells -> Date and pick your preferred style, like 1/1/2001. Select 1/1/2001 and hit OK. It'll add the necessary punctuation for you.

That's about as much detail as I can provide.👍

A little something for my fellow buyers.
Just head over to the first cell and go to Excel > cell formatting > custom > #,0 > okay > editing > fill > series > bullet in circles columns > bullet in circles auto-fill > okay

As for those dates...
Enter the first date > cell formatting > date > okay > editing > fill > series > bullet in circles columns > bullet in circles date > bullet in circles day > step value 1 > end value > type in your final date > okay

I hope I haven't missed any steps here.

Ugh, finally got it! Turns out I kept putting a period after the year in the date field, and that was causing all the issues. As for the buyer info, I had been adding a space between the word and the number, but once I cleared that out and highlighted the range, the list appeared perfectly.
The only thing is, the assignment specifically says "Buyer 1" with a space...

Edward Foster23, I'll give it a shot your way too... 🙂

Thanks for the help. You guys were a lifesaver! 😁

It works for me, whether there’s a space or not. 🤷

urbanangler11 said:Problem2
It's basically the same as the first one—just enter the date you want, say 01/01/2001, but maybe don't put a period after the year... I think Excel gets confused if you do, or maybe it's just some weird glitch.

It isn't actually a bug, it's just how the English language works. See, Americans don't really use periods after years like that, so they don't include them.
So, for example, 06/01/1995 in English would be June 1st, 1995—it's pronounced "June first, nineteen ninety-five," not "June first, nineteen ninety-fifth."

😉

1001
1001
1002
1002
1003
1003
1004
1004

If anyone happens to have some insight on this, I’d certainly appreciate the assist.

Thanks.

A1 - type in 1001
A2 - type in 1001
A3 - type in =A1+1
A4 - type in =A2+1

Grab both cells A3 and A4—highlight them together—copy them, and then just paste that pattern down the entire column.

Benjamin King2 said:A1 - type 1001
A2 - type 1001
A3 - type =A1+1
A4 - type =A2+1

Just select cells A3 and A4 together, hit copy, and then paste them down the entire column.

Much appreciated 👍

Since you’re going to run into issues once you start deleting rows, this approach might be a smoother way to handle it:

Just pop this formula in: =1000+ROUNDUP(ROWS(A$1:A1)/2;0) and then drag it down as far as you need.

hiddennomad13 said:Since you’re inevitably going to run into issues once you start deleting rows, this approach might actually be more stable:

Just plug in =1000+ROUNDUP(ROWS(A$1:A1)/2,0) and drag it down as far as you need.

Yeah, this is definitely the superior way to handle it. 👍

thanks