How to Fill Blank Cells to the Right in Excel
Report headers love a single label spanning several columns, with the cells beside it left blank. To actually use the data, that label has to repeat across each column. Fill Blanks does it downward — here's the one-click way to do it to the right.
Last updated: August 2026
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024, ⬚, ⬚, | → | 2024, 2024, 2024, |
| 2025, ⬚, ⬚ | → | 2025, 2025, 2025 |
Why Go To Special is fiddly
The manual recipe is the horizontal cousin of the fill-down trick: select the row, Go To Special ▸ Blanks, type = and point at the cell to the left, press Ctrl+Enter to fill all blanks with that relative formula, then paste as values to freeze them. It works, but it's several precise steps, and on a wide row one wrong click fills from the wrong direction. Unmerging cells makes it worse — you're left with a label plus a trail of blanks that all need the same value.
The 1-click way — Tellsheet's Fill Right
Select the range and run Fill Right. Each blank cell is filled with the value to its left in the same row, so a spanning label repeats across its run of blanks in one step — the horizontal counterpart of Fill Blanks. Turn on First row is a header to leave a header row alone. A blank with nothing to its left stays blank. Pairs with Fill Blank Cells and Unmerge Cells.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from Fill Blanks?
Fill Blanks carries the value above downward; Fill Right carries the value to the left across — the same idea, rotated for column headers.
Does it fix unmerged cells?
Yes — after unmerging, the label sits in the first cell with blanks after it; Fill Right repeats it across them.
What if a cell has nothing to its left?
It stays blank. Only blanks that follow a filled cell in the row are filled.
Can I protect my header row?
Yes — turn on "First row is a header" so labels don't bleed across the header.
Related Excel guides
Fill blanks to the right in one click
Fill Right carries each cell's value across the blanks beside it — the horizontal Fill Blanks, ideal for spanning column headers.
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