Instead, select the cell containing the formula, and double-click the fill handle rather than dragging it. In an instant, Excel duplicates the formula down the column until it reaches a blank row.

How to Lock Column References To prevent errors, you can lock column references in Excel tables by using double square brackets (` [ [Column]: [Column]]`).

When you want to fill a column in Excel with a given formula or value, you can do it the old fashioned way (select cells or the column header, CTRL+V to paste) or use can do it the much faster way ...