Fill Data in Multiple Empty Cells
How to quickly populate empty cells in Excel with the value from the cell above, using Go To Special and Ctrl+Enter.
When you download data from a system or receive a file from a client, you may end up with a format where category values are only entered once and the rows below are left blank. This causes problems when you want to use filters, pivot tables, or queries.
Here's how to fill all empty cells at once.
Steps
Step 1: Highlight the range you want to fill. For example, select A4:F27.
Step 2: Click Find & Select → Go To… or press Ctrl+G.
Step 3: In the Go To dialog, click the Special button.
In newer versions of Excel you can skip Step 3 by choosing Go To Special directly in Step 2.
Step 4: Select Blanks and click OK. Only the empty cells will now be selected (highlighted in blue).
Step 5: Without clicking anywhere else, type a formula referencing the cell directly above. For example, if your first selected blank is B5, type =B4.
Step 6: Press Ctrl+Enter (not just Enter). This applies the formula to all selected blank cells simultaneously.
Final Step
Once the cells are filled, it's recommended to copy the entire range and Paste Special → Values to replace the formulas with static values. This prevents the data from shifting if rows are later moved or deleted, and makes the data safe to use in pivot tables and filters.