When you need to add a large amount of date-based data into an Excel spreadsheet, you can waste a lot of time manually adding each month into a column. For situations like this, Microsoft Excel 2010 contains a feature that will automatically recognize when you type in a month name. All you have to do is to fill down the column from the first cell and Excel will take care of the rest.
Step 1
Open a new Microsoft Excel 2010 spreadsheet.
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Step 2
Click on cell "A1" and type in the name of the first month you want to use. Excel can begin to fill successive months from any month, so you don't necessarily need to have "January" be first. You can also add the year, if necessary. Excel will automatically add to the year as it adds each successive month. Press "Enter" when you are done entering the month.
Step 3
Click on cell "A1" again, as Excel will change the selected cell once you pressed "Enter." Move your mouse over the lower-right corner of the cell. Your pointer will change into a "+" sign.
Step 4
Click and hold the mouse button. Drag the mouse down the spreadsheet. As you move the mouse, a small pop-up window will display the month that will appear in the last selected cell, so you can tell how far you need to drag the mouse.
Step 5
Release the mouse button when you have reached the last cell that you want to fill with month names. Excel will automatically add the names of the successive months to each cell, starting from the first month that you entered.
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