# Fill Down Blank Dates in Excel for Grouped Rows

- Author: FastBankConvert (https://www.fastbankconvert.com)
- Published: 2026-06-10
- Updated: 2026-06-10
- Category: Fixing the converted file
- Canonical: https://www.fastbankconvert.com/blog/fill-down-blank-dates-in-excel

> Fill down blank dates in Excel when a statement prints the date once per day: Go To Special blanks, one formula, then paste as values.
To fill down blank dates in Excel, select the date column, use Go To Special to pick only the blank cells, type an equals sign and the cell above, and press Ctrl+Enter. Every empty date copies the one above it. Then paste the column as values, so the dates stay put when you sort or filter.

## Why does a statement leave blank dates on grouped rows?

Many statements print a date once and list every transaction for that day beneath it, leaving the date cell empty on the rows that follow. On paper the grouping reads well. In Excel, each undated row is a transaction with no date, which breaks sorting, filtering by month and any import that needs a date on every line.

The layout is common on credit card statements and on accounts with many transactions a day. A converter copies what is printed, so the empty cells come across as empty cells. The date is not lost; it simply lives on the first row of each group.

### Why it matters before anything else

- **Sorting.** A sort by date sends every undated row to the bottom of the list, cut off from its day.
- **Filters and pivot tables.** Undated rows fall under a blank heading instead of their day or month.
- **Imports.** Bookkeeping software usually rejects a transaction line without a date.
- **Lookups and totals by day.** A `SUMIFS` on a date skips every row whose date cell is empty.

Fill the dates first, before you sort, remove rows or split columns.

## Selecting the blank date cells with Go To Special

Go To Special is an Excel dialog that selects cells by type, and its Blanks option picks every empty cell in a range at once. Select the date column from the first transaction to the last, open Go To Special, choose Blanks, and only the missing dates stay highlighted, ready to fill in one step.

### Opening the dialog

Press F5 or Ctrl+G to open Go To, then choose Special. On the Home tab, the same command sits under Find & Select, Go To Special. Choose Blanks and then OK.

### Selecting the right range

Select from the first transaction's date down to the last transaction's date, not the whole column. A whole-column selection includes every empty cell below the table, and the fill would write dates into a million rows. Click the first date, then press Ctrl+Shift+End and adjust the selection back to the date column, or click the first date and Shift+click the last.

If the selection jumps or stops early, the column may contain cells that only look empty. A cell with a single space is not blank to Go To Special. The section on dates that should not be filled covers how to find those.

## One formula fills every blank date at once

With the blanks selected, one formula fills them all: type `=` and the address of the cell just above the active cell, then press Ctrl+Enter. Ctrl+Enter enters the same relative formula into every selected cell, so each blank points to the cell above it and picks up the date of its group.

### Six steps from start to finish

1. Select the date range, from the first transaction to the last.
2. Press F5, choose Special, choose Blanks, then OK.
3. Without clicking anywhere, type `=`. The formula goes into the active cell, the first blank, which stays white within the selection.
4. Press the Up arrow once, so the formula points to the cell above, such as `=A3`.
5. Press Ctrl+Enter, not Enter.
6. Check that the blanks now show dates, then paste the column as values, as the next section describes.

Each formula refers to the cell directly above it. A run of four blanks becomes a chain: the first copies the dated row, the second copies the first, and so on. The whole group ends up with the same date.

### When the filled cells show numbers

If the filled cells show numbers such as `46085` instead of dates, the formula worked and the cells only lack a date format. Select the column and apply a date format with Ctrl+1. If they show `#####`, the column is too narrow for the date, and [Excel showing hashtags instead of numbers](/blog/excel-shows-hashtags-instead-of-numbers) explains each cause of that display.

## Pasting the filled dates as values before you sort

The filled cells hold formulas that point to the row above, not dates of their own. Sort or delete rows while they are still formulas and each one points at a new neighbour, so the dates scramble. Copy the date column and paste it back with Paste Special, Values, and every cell then holds a fixed date.

### How to paste as values

1. Select the whole date range you filled.
2. Press Ctrl+C.
3. Right-click the first cell of the range and choose Paste Special, then Values. On the Home tab, Paste, Paste Values does the same.
4. Press Esc to clear the copy border.
5. Click a filled cell and check the formula bar. It should show a date, not `=A3`.

This step is the one people skip. The sheet looks finished, the dates are right, and nothing warns you that a sort will undo the work.

## Which blank dates should not be filled down?

A blank date belongs to a transaction only when the row also has an amount. Rows with no amount, such as page headers, section labels, subtotal lines, empty spacer rows and wrapped description lines, have blank dates for a different reason. Filling them gives non-transactions a date and makes them harder to find and remove.

### Rows to deal with first

- **Empty rows.** A fully blank row gets a date and then looks like a transaction with no amount. Remove empty rows before filling.
- **Wrapped descriptions.** A second line of a long description has no date and no amount. Join it to the row above first, as [joining wrapped rows in Excel](/blog/join-wrapped-rows-in-excel) describes.
- **Page breaks.** A repeated column header at the top of a page sits between two groups and would carry a date into the header row.
- **Subtotal lines.** A daily or page total has an amount but no date. Filling it gives the total a date, and a later sum then counts it twice.
- **A blank first row.** If the first transaction itself has no date, the formula copies the column header into it. Type that date by hand from the PDF.

### Cells that look blank but are not

A cell holding a space, or text a converter left as an empty string, is not blank to Go To Special and will not be filled. Find them with a filter on the date column: any cell that shows nothing but does not appear under "(Blanks)" holds a character. Clear those cells with the Delete key and run the fill again. Converted cells with hidden characters are a broader problem, and [making converted cells editable](/blog/pdf-to-excel-editable) covers stripping them.

## Filling blank dates with a helper column or Power Query

A helper column fills the dates without changing the original column: in a new column, the first cell copies the first date, and every cell below takes its own row's date if there is one, or the cell above if there is not. Power Query has a Fill Down command that does the same thing as a repeatable step.

### Helper column formula

With dates in column A and the helper in column B, enter `=A2` in B2. In B3, enter this and fill down to the last transaction:

`=IF(A3="", B2, A3)`

Column B now holds a date on every row and column A is untouched, so you can compare the two side by side. When you are satisfied, paste column B as values and delete column A.

The same formula works in other spreadsheet programs. If you convert and clean statements on a Linux machine, [converting PDF to Excel on Linux](/blog/convert-pdf-to-excel-on-linux) covers the tools, and the helper column behaves the same in LibreOffice Calc.

### Power Query fill down

If the statement data already passes through Power Query, select the date column in the editor and choose Transform, Fill, Down. Power Query fills null cells from the value above. Empty text is not null, so a column whose blanks arrived as empty strings needs Replace Values first, replacing nothing with `null`. The step reruns every time you refresh the query, which suits a monthly statement in the same layout.

## Checking filled dates against the printed statement

A filled date column is right when every transaction row has a date, each date matches the day it was grouped under on the PDF, and no non-transaction row picked one up. Three checks confirm it: count the blanks that remain, compare the number of rows per day with the statement, and spot-check the last row of each group.

### Worked example

The rows below are examples from a made-up statement that prints each date once. Column A is the date as converted, and the right-hand column is the date after the fill and paste as values.

| Row | Date as converted | Description | Amount | Date after fill |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2 | 2026-05-04 | Coffee shop | -4.50 | 2026-05-04 |
| 3 | | Grocery store | -62.18 | 2026-05-04 |
| 4 | | Fuel station | -40.00 | 2026-05-04 |
| 5 | 2026-05-05 | Payroll deposit | 1,640.00 | 2026-05-05 |
| 6 | | Phone bill | -55.00 | 2026-05-05 |
| 7 | 2026-05-07 | Pharmacy | -18.25 | 2026-05-07 |
| 8 | | Parking | -6.00 | 2026-05-07 |
| 9 | | Bookshop | -21.40 | 2026-05-07 |

On the statement, 4 May had three transactions, 5 May two and 7 May three. The filled column shows the same counts, which a quick `=COUNTIF(D2:D9, DATE(2026,5,4))` per day confirms.

### Checks to run

1. `=COUNTBLANK()` on the filled date range returns 0.
2. The row count per day matches the PDF for at least the busiest days.
3. The last row of each group has the date of its group, not the next one.
4. No row without an amount has a date.

### Dates that come out as something else

If the original dates were text, the filled copies are text too, and they will sort as characters. Fix the type after filling. The opposite problem, where Excel turns a reference number such as `5-7` into a date during import, has its own repair in [stopping Excel changing numbers to dates](/blog/excel-changing-numbers-to-dates).

FastBankConvert is being built to put a date, description, amount and balance in their own columns for every transaction. It has not opened yet, and [Get started](/get-started) is where you can ask to be told when trial conversions begin.