[Solved] Dragging first value of a column all the way down

[dharmarick]

I used to use Excel, but I got a new lap top. I downloaded OpenOffice to avoid paying for Excel. Let's suppose I have a column of 100 cells. Each cell has one of 5 different values. I want to enter a new value in the first cell, and then drag it all the way down the column, changing all the cells to that new value. That's how I used to do it in Excel, but it doesn't work for me in OpenOffice. It adds one unit to each value as I drag it down the column. Actually I would be happy with any way to accomplish this goal. Is there an easy way to do it?

The column I want to work with actually has several thousand cells, so I have to have a practical way to do this. I haven't stumbled across it yet in OpenOffice. I sure hope someone can help me. There has to be a simple answer.

[RoryOF]

Tutorial] Absolute, relative and mixed references

[dharmarick]

I hate to disappoint you because I know you mean well, but I've tried my best to understand that tutorial, and I've tried to solve my problem by following instructions as I understand them, but I still can't get the new value in the first cell to copy all the way down. The best I can do is have it copy to one cell. That's too tedious to do several thousand cells. That tutorial is probably a little over my head.

[dharmarick]

If at first you don't succeed.... I kept reading that tutorial, and now I think I've got it. I appreciate the help. I think I'm supposed to mark the thread as "problem solved," but I not quite sure how to do that yet.