
Dragging the square with a right-click displays the menu containing options for fill methods, as well as the Flash Fill option. Dragging the Autofill square with a left-click fills the cells with the default filling method. Before clicking the Flash Fill button, enter something that follows your pattern and select the range you want to fill.Įmpty rows will auto-populate after clicking the button.Īnother way to use Autofill is from the right-click Autofill menu. The button is located under the Data Tools section of the DATA tab.

If you’re not getting these types of suggestions, the pattern you are trying to implement might be too complicated for Excel.įor when Excel can't recognize your pattern, you can access this feature manually. When you enter the first name of the first person in the list, Excel will detect this pattern and suggest to complete the rest for you. In the example below, we have first and last names in column A. If you press the Enter key when you see the values in gray, Excel will populate the cells with the suggested values. This means that Excel sensed a pattern between your existing data and what you’re typing. You may have noticed Excel making suggestions to automatically finish your typing. You can drag the Autofill pointer with a right-click, and then select the Flash Fill option.You can select the target range and then click Flash Fill button from the menu.When working with data matching certain patterns, Excel can detect the data structure and suggest to use the Autofill feature.Mainly there are 3 ways for using the Flash Fill feature: Let’s take a closer look at how Excel Flash Fill can save you time and drudgery.
#WHY FLASH FILL WON'T WON'T EXCEL FOR MAC FOR MAC#
The Flash Fill feature is available in Excel 2013 and later for Windows, and Excel for Mac 2016 and later. You can use the Flash fill to combine names, split names, copy alternating values, and do much more without even typing any formulas. Flash Fill, on the other hand, is an even better variant of the handy Autofill feature that is not quite its alternative, but is actually made to complement it. Even without any in-depth knowledge of it, most Excel users benefit from it at some point during their tenures. Being able to create large data sets that follow a certain pattern in an instant truly is a miracle, that comes in the form of Autofill.
