Microsoft Excel offers several tools you can use when you need to fill a column with the same text or numbers. Instead of completing each cell manually, you can quickly fill in the entire column ...

Flash Fill is a great tool that interprets a pattern and applies it to data to quickly create new data, whether in one column or across several columns.

1. Insert a new column next to the column with your data. 2. In the first cell of a newly added column, type the desired value. 3. Start typing in the next cell, and if Excel senses a pattern, it will ...

A good match for the pattern eliminates the need for human data entry. For instance, Excel will present you with the flash fill option if you are manually combining the first and last names from two ...

An curved arrow pointing right. We all know and love the Auto Fill feature in Excel. Microsoft went a step further in Excel 2013 and created Flash Fill. This new feature recognizes patterns in ...

It recognizes patterns in your data, and uses those patterns to suggest ways to automatically fill in the rest of a column.

Then hold down the Ctrl key and press E. Flash Fill will populate your column based on the pattern it detects. In Excel for Mac, the keyboard shortcut is the only way to use Flash Fill.

Automatic data fill-in works on a variety of data ranges, including simple number increments and various date and time patterns. For example, you can create a column of the months of the year in a ...