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How to auto number a column in Excel?

Have you ever wanted to number a column in Excel? This tutorial will talk about some methods for numbering a column.

Auto number a column by formula =ROW()

Auto number a column by formula =OFFSET()

Auto number a column by Auto Fill Handle

Number a column by Insert Sequence Number of Kutools for Excel


Auto number a column by formula =ROW()

If you want to number the column based on the row numbers, you can type this formula =ROW() into a cell and press Enter key then drag the autofill handle to the cells you need to number.

doc-number-column-1


Auto number a column by formula =OFFSET(A2,-1,0)+1

If you want to auto number the column cells not based on the row number, you can type this formula =OFFSET(A2,-1,0)+1 into Cell A2 which you want to begin the number series from 1, and press Enter key then drag the autofill handle to cells you need.

doc-number-column-2

Note:

1. With above formula to auto number a column, A2 is current cell's address, and the cell above this cell must be blank or 0. For example, if you want to enter this formula into Cell K5, the formula should be modified to =OFFSET(K5,-1,0)+1, and the Cell K4 must be blank or 0.

2. If you remove one number from the number series, the below numbers will be start from 1 again.

doc-number-column-3


Insert Sequnce Number in Excel

If you want to insert customized sequential numbers in Excel, such as KTE-0001-Jone, KTE-0002-Jone, KTE-0003-Jone..., the sequence strings will not be filled normally when dragging the mouse in Excel. Now, with the Insert Sequence Number utility of Kutools for Excel, you can create any customizing sequence numbers and insert them quickly.  Click to download 30-day free trial.

doc-number-column-1

Auto number a column by AutoFill function

In Excel, AutoFill function also can help you to number a column.

Type 1 into a cell that you want to start the numbering, then drag the autofill handle at the right-down corner of the cell to the cells you want to number, and click the fill options to expand the option, and check Fill Series, then the cells are numbered. See screenshot.

doc-number-column-4

Note: If you delete one number of the number series, the other numbers are kept.
doc-number-column-5


Insert column number by Insert Sequence Number of Kutools for Excel

If you want to insert custom sequence number to number a column, you can try the Insert Sequence Number tool of Kutools for Excel.

Kutools for Excel, with more than 300 handy functions, makes your jobs more easier. 

After free installing Kutools for Excel, please do as below:

1. Click Kutools > Insert > Insert Sequence Number.
doc-number-column-6

2. Click New button to expand the dialog, then set your custom sequence as you need, you can specify the prefix and suffix, also can define the number of digits you want. See screenshot:
doc-number-column-7 doc-number-column-8

3. Click Add to create this sequence, then select a column range you want to insert the numbers, click Fill Range to fill the numbers into cells.
doc-number-column-9

Tips:

1. In the Insert Sequence Number dialog box, it will mark the last inserted sequential numbers in the Previous list, and if you insert this sequence number at next time, the first sequential number will be marked in Next list.

2. You can click New button to create more sequential numbers.

3. You can click Reset to reset the sequence.

4. With Insert Sequence Number tool, you also can do following operations:

Quickly create and insert repeated sequential numbers in a range of cells

Quickly create and insert sequential numbers in merged cells


Relative Articles:

  • How to change or convert number to text in Excel?
    Sometimes you may not want the numbers in the cells getting involved in calculating, or you may want to display leading zeros in numbers in cells. For doing so, you may need to change a number into text.

  • How to remove numbers from text strings in Excel?
    For example there are many numbers mixed in a text string, and you want to remove these numbers from the text string. How to get it done? This article will introduce a couple of tricky methods to remove numbers from text string cells in Excel easily.

  • How to identify missing numbers sequence in Excel?
    Let's say you have a long list of sequence numbers to mark items, such as check numbers in bank statements, normally we scrolling through and locate the missing sequence numbers manually. However, here are some tricky ways to deal with it.

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Comments (21)
Rated 5 out of 5 · 1 ratings
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Drag and fill isn't doing anything. When I put in formula and hit enter, it puts a 0 there. No numbers anywhere else. It's faster to renumber it manually than trying to get this to work.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Sziasztok
Szeretném megkérdezni excellben van egy sorszámozott oszlopom, kiveszek egy nevet és a sorszámot újra kell 1 essel kezdenem
ha lehúzom a kis sarokban akkor nem számozza át újra
marad a 2 től 2 3 4 5 6 stb
tehát át kell számoznia 1 től de nem teszi meg
pl 2 osztályosok vannak 21 en, kivettem egy tanulót és a sorszámot át kellene írnia ha lehúzom a kis kockába de nem teszi meg utánuk rögtön jön a 3 osztályosok névsora 1 essel kezdődő sorszámmal
tehát nem sorszámoz ha kiveszek egy tanulót...
hogy tudom ezt megoldani mert sokszor van ilyen
köszönöm szépen
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi, I do not understand your question. Could you upload a file or a picture to describe your question in details?
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Надеюсь, это поможет, по крайней мере в умных таблицах работает отлично.
Требуется: начать нумерацию с A2. Тогда в этой ячейке следует ввести:
=СТРОКА()-СТРОКА($A$1)
Если нужно начать с Q26: =СТРОКА()-СТРОКА($Q$25) [Главное, чтобы ссылка на строку была зафиксированной, фиксация столбца не обязательна.]
Если нужен формат 01, 02 ... 10, 11 (две цифры до 10), тогда формула примет следующий вид:
=ТЕКСТ(СТРОКА()-СТРОКА($A$1);"00")
Нужно больше нулей - меняем в формуле "00" на столько, сколько душе угодно.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Ещё вариант, чтобы не быть зависимым от верхней ячейки. Требуется то же самое, начать нумерацию с A2.
=СТРОКА()-СТРОКА(СМЕЩ($A$2;-1;0))
Отличие от предыдущей формулы состоит в одном - разное поведение в случае, если необходимо вставить новую строку над первой пронумерованной строкой.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
hoe kan ik als ik bv bij a1 50 invul die 50 ergens bij op laten tellen en a1 dan weer naar 0 laten gaan?
Rated 5 out of 5
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi, please how to number rows with a letter prefix, without dragging and how to do it so that the numbers remain the same even after moving to another row? To make them static values. Example:

AHJS1000

AHJS1001

AHJS1002
...

thanks
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
I'm confused regarding offset.

I am trying to autofill from Cell A3 however, there is a title in Cell A2 describing what the numbers below represent.

How do I use the autofill Offset formula, if the above Cell is not blank? Thanks
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi, if the above cell is not blank, you can type the start number in the cell, suppoing, you want to fill numbers in D2:D8, and D1 contains header, you can type 1 into D2 firstly, then type formula =OFFSET(D3,-1,0)+1 into D3, and drag fill handle down to D8. See screenshot:
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Is it possible to only auto fill to a certain number, without dragging to that number? Basically the total number is a variant,defined by a count function.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi, zoe, you want to auto fill numbers without dragging, right? If so, this tutorial will help you https://www.extendoffice.com/documents/excel/4448-fill-to-specific-row-without-dragging.html
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
I've deleted some rows in excel now my far left column numbering is eg 1,2,3,45,46,47 how do I get back to sequential numbering?
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
If you have deleted rows, then you just need to renumber the sequential numbering, you can type the begining number 1 in first cell, then drag fill handle down to fill seriers.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
When I insert a row, the first column should have the sl.no above+1 and the rows below should be automatically numbered. This should happen without I needing to drag the formula
What is the solution for such case?
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
TRY THIS...


I AM GIVING FORMULA STARTING FROM A2 AS I CONSIDER THAT A1 CONTAINS THE TITLE "S.NO."


IN A2....... =IF(B2>0,1,"")

IN A3........=IF(B3>0,MAX($A$2:A2)+1,"")


THAN DRAG THE FORMULA FROM A3 TO DOWNSIDE. NOW THIS FORMULA WILL WORK WHEN YOU ENTER SOME TEXT IN B2,B3,.........,IT WILL ENTER SERIAL NO. AUTOMATICALLY.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
improving the formula from the comment above (from Pkm)

try entry the formula below in A2 and then drag from A2 to downside and it will enter serial number automatically when you enter text in any cell in B column.
=IFERROR(IF(AND($A1="";$B2<>"");MAX(A1:$A$2)+1;IFS(AND($B2<>"";ISNUMBER($A1));MAX($A1:$A$2)+1;AND($B2<>"";ISTEXT($A1));1));"")

This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Sorry my hands are tied.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
I want an auto-numbering that even if I delete a row in the middle, the numbers below will automatically adjust
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
=row() can work.
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