Excel Tips – How to Quickly fill Blank Cells in a list?

Many times in a list, especially so when it is imported from a database, cells down below that have same headings or subheadings are left blank for the sake of easier readability. For eg. See the screenshot below

However this creates a difficulty when such lists are required to be sorted and/or subtotaled. To fill the cells down below with the subheadings of the cells above them, do the following:

1. Select the list

2. Click CTRL + G.

3. In the [Go To] dialogue box that appears, click the ‘Special’ button

4. In the [Special] dialogue box, select ‘blanks’. This will highlight only the blank cells in the list, with focus on the 1^st blank cell. See figure

5. In the 1^st blank cell, i.e. the cell with the focus, enter the formula =A2 (see figure) and press CTRL+ENTER.

6. As a result, the blank cells down below get filled up with the subheadings immediately above them. See figure