1. Fill a Text Series

You can auto-fill cells with predictable info such as month names or days of the week. This is much faster than typing or copy-pasting the info. First, type the first entry in your series. Then, hover your mouse in the bottom-right corner of the cell. Your cursor will turn into a crosshair (+).

Now you can click and drag across the cells to create a series. You will see the predictions in a small pop-up that follows the cursor.

2. Incrementing Numbers

When you fill two or more cells with numbers, Calc can predict the next number. It also works for times and dates written in number format. You can do this with more complex series as well. First, select and right-click a range of cells. Then, choose Fill Series from the context menu.

From here, you can select the series type. Linear will add or subtract an amount to the original number in each new cell. The Increment lets you decide how much it adds.

Growth will multiply each cell by the Increment to determine the next cell’s contents. For both Growth and Linear series, you can choose the Start Value and End Value to set limits on the list.

3. Random Series

This is the Calc version of Excel’s RANDBETWEEN function. Creating a random set of numbers can be useful. You can create a series of raffle numbers, or test a formula without human bias.

Go to the menu bar and click Sheet > Fill Cells > Fill Random Number. If you want to repeat the same set of numbers later, you should enter a Seed. Re-entering the seed allows you to generate the same numbers.

If you want to get picky about the type of randomization used, you can select that under Distribution. You can find an explanation of each Distribution type on the LibreOffice Help Pages. In some modes, you can also pick the Minimum and Maximum possible numbers.

Save Time With Auto-Fill

Fill Series can save you a lot of time when creating spreadsheets. If you like to make your own templates, you can create planners, trackers, and more using Fill Series. You can improve your LibreOffice Calc expertise even more with keyboard shortcuts.