Excel Wants to AutoComplete Second Column

Hello,

I was working on filling in data by date as seen on the attached screenshot. When I typed "MA" in the third cell of the last column followed by "321" in the fourth cell, Excel flashes some kind of autofill for the entire second column. However, pressing Tab or Enter does not let me use the AutoFill, and it disappears after one second, so I can't use the Fill handle. When I drag down the fill handle when selecting both cells I get repeats of MA and 321, with 321 increasing by one. Using the Fill handle when selecting the entire table and filling to the next column did not seem to work either. Is there some way to learn more about this feature? I did not see anything about it on Microsoft's documentation. Thanks.

It's difficult to see what is going on with only a screenshot to look at. What are you trying to achieve with autofill?

It looks like the autofill wants to repeat Column B. What do you want in Col N? You have SUM in the header, would you not enter a formula=SUM(B6:M6) in rows 6:24

Perhaps more detail, and a copy of the workbook would help.

Regards,

David

I am just trying to understand why autofill wants to copy Column B, and how this feature works, since I did not use the fill handle.
Also, even if I wanted a copy of column B I don't know how I would do that because the autofill disappears immediately.
To replicate this on the attached workbook, just type MA into N3 and 321 into N4. Thanks again.

Any suggestions? I could not find any documentation of how to use this feature. Thanks.

Excel's Auto-fill is recognising a pattern in the adjacent columns. It is assuming you want to replicate. If you ignore it, you can proceed as normal, but if you hit Tab Key, the column will be populated.

If you want to turn it off, Click the File tab then click Options.
Click Advanced and under Editing Options you will see Enable Autocomplete .... where you can remove the tick.

I hope this helps, please let me know!

Regards,

David

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Originally Posted by David A Coop

Excel's Auto-fill is recognising a pattern in the adjacent columns. It is assuming you want to replicate. If you ignore it, you can proceed as normal, but if you hit Tab Key, the column will be populated.

If you want to turn it off, Click the File tab then click Options.
Click Advanced and under Editing Options you will see Enable Autocomplete .... where you can remove the tick.

Thank you for the help. However, when I hit Tab I go to the next cell to the right, and don't activate the Autocomplete. That is why I am wondering what its purpose is if I can't use it.

Sorry, I said Tab - I should have said Down Arrow to cause the Auto-Fill to populate.

David

Thank you both--it seems that the Flash Fill only works if I type "3" and the down arrow, and not "321". I don't know why Flash Fill repeats the second column and not the one immediately to the left of it, but I guess that was the best Excel's algorithm could think of. The videos Excel provides online are a bit brief with regard to the rules Flash Fill uses to guess a pattern.