Data Cleansing with Flash Fill
November 09, 2022 - by Bill Jelen
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Problem: I need to join text or break apart text in Excel 2013.
Strategy: Use the new Flash Fill feature. Say that you have First Name in column A, Last Name in column B. You want first initial, a period, and a last name in column C.
1. You must type a heading in C1 first or Flash Fill will not work.
2. Type the pattern in C2: M. Henderson.
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3. Type the first letter in C3. As soon as you type J, Flash Fill will draw the proposed data in grey.
4. Press Enter to accept the flash fill.

Gotcha: Flash Fill provides a static solution. If column A later changes, column C won’t update.
Problem: I saw Flash Fill propose a solution, but I did not hit the correct key, and now it is all gone.
Strategy: Finish typing the second entry. Go to the blank cell below your first two entries. Press Ctrl+E or select Data, Flash Fill. The data will come back.
This article is an excerpt from Power Excel With MrExcel
Title photo by Flash Dantz on Unsplash