Flash Fill (Excel 2013 and later) watches what you type and completes the column for you. Give it one or two examples, press Ctrl+E, done.
How to use it
- Next to your data, type the result you want for the first row — e.g. the first name from “Sharma, Asha”.
- Move to the cell below and press Ctrl+E.
- Check a few rows. If one is wrong, correct it — Flash Fill re-learns from the correction.
Five things it does well
| Data | You type | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Sharma, Asha | Asha Sharma | Swaps every name |
| [email protected] | Asha | First names from emails |
| 9876543210 | 98765-43210 | Formatted phone numbers |
| INV-2025-0042 | 0042 | Invoice sequence numbers |
| Asha | Sharma | AS | Initials |
⚠️ Flash Fill writes values, not formulas — it will not update when the source changes. For data that changes, use formulas (TEXTBEFORE, TEXTAFTER, LEFT, MID) or Power Query.
If Ctrl+E does nothing, check File → Options → Advanced → Automatically Flash Fill. Practise more shortcuts in the Shortcut Trainer.