Flash Fill in Excel

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Use flash fill in Excel 2013 or later to automatically extract or combine data.

Join

1. For example, use flash fill to join the last names in column A and the first names in column B to create email addresses.

2. First, tell Excel what you want to do by entering a correct email address in cell C1.

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3. On the Data tab, in the Data Tools group, click Flash Fill.

Result:

Note: again, Excel does not insert formulas, if you change the text strings in column A or column B, Excel will not update the email addresses in column C.

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Extract

1. For example, use flash fill to extract the numbers in column A below.

2. First, tell Excel what you want to do by entering the value 4645 into cell B1.

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3. On the Data tab, in the Data Tools group, click Flash Fill.

Result:

Note: Excel does not insert formulas, if you change the text strings in column A, Excel will not update the numbers in Column B.

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