Google Sheets web app (rolling service) · Workbook essentials · Beginner
Enter, autofill, copy and paste values or formats in Google Sheets
Enter, autofill, copy and paste values or formats in Google Sheets with a worked fixture, expected results and safe recovery.
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Quick answer
Drag the blue autofill handle from two seed cells to extend a numeric series. For copied cells, choose Edit > Paste special to preserve only values, formulas or formatting. Check which kind of information you moved before using the pasted result.
Prepare one private workbook
Use editable native Google Sheets in a desktop browser. Paste special is documented within one spreadsheet, not between separate spreadsheet files in different browser tabs. Keep all source and destination cells in this exercise on one tab. No premium edition is needed for the ordinary input operations covered here.
Enter A1 = Batch number, A2 = 10 and A3 = 20. In C1:D4, create:
| Units | Calculated amount |
|---|---|
| 2 | =C2*5 |
| 3 | =C3*5 |
| 4 | =C4*5 |
D2:D4 should display 10, 15 and 20. Keep E and F empty for paste destinations, and type Snapshot in E1 and Styled inputs in F1. The placement keeps the experiment from overwriting either the seed series or the live calculation.
Extend a series rather than repeat a value
Select A2:A3 together. Drag the small blue box at the selection’s lower-right corner down to A6. The expected A2:A6 sequence is 10, 20, 30, 40, 50. Inspect all five cells, not just the last one. Starting from two values makes the intended step of 10 explicit.
For a comparison, enter Day in H2 and Night in H3. Select H2:H3 and drag to H6. Because this is a text list rather than a numeric/date progression, the expected result repeats Day, Night, Day, Night, Day. Autofill is not a business-rule engine that knows your intended schedule.
Freeze calculated results as values
- Select D2:D4 and copy with Ctrl+C on Windows or Command+C on Mac.
- Select E2 and choose Edit > Paste special > Paste values only.
- Inspect E2:E4: the expected snapshot is 10, 15, 20.
- Select each destination cell and inspect its formula bar. It should contain a value, not
=C2*5or an adjusted formula. - Change C3 from 3 to 7. D3 should become 35; E3 should remain 15.
That changed-input test is the point of a values-only paste. E is a fixed snapshot, not a second live report. If you need a live report, do not discard its formulas without a reason. Label snapshots with their purpose so later readers do not mistake old results for recalculated data.
Copy appearance without replacing content
Enter 100, 200 and 300 into F2:F4. Apply a bold font and a restrained fill to D2:D4 using the toolbar. Copy D2:D4, select F2, and choose Edit > Paste special > Paste format only. F2:F4 should adopt the source appearance but still contain 100, 200 and 300.
If F displays 10, 35 and 20 instead, you pasted content rather than formatting. Undo immediately if that was your last action; otherwise restore the three known input values. Keep the original D formulas untouched. The toolbar Paint format is another documented way to transfer appearance, but this exercise uses the paste menu so the modes are easy to compare.
Finish and diagnose paste failures
Restore C3 to 3 for the final practice workbook. Verify D = 10/15/20, E = 10/15/20 as constants, F = 100/200/300, and A ends at 50. After saving online, reopen and inspect a formula cell and a snapshot cell separately.
Browser clipboard restrictions may prevent menu copying. Use the documented keyboard copy shortcut; do not install an extension or grant unrelated permissions simply to complete this exercise. If paste special remains unavailable, stop rather than substitute ordinary paste and call the result equivalent.
Keep a separate copy before bulk fills in real data. A large drag can overwrite adjacent work, and values-only paste intentionally loses the copied formula relationship. For a different input-quality problem, see preserve CSV product IDs; autofill will not restore identifiers already converted to numbers.
Official references
- Automatically create a series or list - Computer - Google Docs Editors Help
- Copy and paste text and images - Computer - Google Docs Editors Help
- Add formulas & functions - Computer - Google Docs Editors Help
Documentation basis: first-party help snapshots captured 20 October 2026. Fixture arithmetic and stated changes were checked independently. No native Google Sheets session, Excel round trip, screenshot, sharing action or export was executed for this article.