Page 127 - Excel 2013 All-in-One For Dummies

After you’ve created a custom list by using one of these two methods, you can fill in the entire data series by entering the first entry of the list in a
cell and then dragging the Fill handle to fill in the rest of the entries. If you ever decide that you no longer need a custom list that you’ve created, you can delete it by clicking the list in the Custom Lists box in the Custom Lists dialog box and then clicking the Delete button. Excel then displays an alert box indicating that the list will be permanently deleted when you click OK. Note that you can’t delete any of the built-in lists that appear in this list box when you first open the Custom Lists dialog box.
Keep in mind that you can also fill in any part of the series by simply enter- ing any one of the entries in the custom list and then dragging the Fill handle in the appropriate direction (down and to the right to enter succeeding entries in the list or up and to the left to enter preceding entries).
Flash Fill to the rescue
Excel 2013’s great new Flash Fill feature gives you the ability to take a part of the data entered into one column of a worksheet table and enter just that data in a new table column using only a few keystrokes. The series of entries appear in the new column, literally in a flash (thus, the name Flash Fill), the moment Excel detects a pattern in your initial data entry that enables it to figure out the data you want to copy. The beauty is that all this happens without the need for you to construct or copy any kind of formula.
The best way to understand Flash Fill is to see it in action. Figure 1-12 con- tains a new data table consisting of four columns. The first column already contains the full names of clients (first, middle, and last). The second,
third, and fourth columns need to have just the first, middle, and surnames, respectively, entered into them (so that particular parts of the clients’ names can be used in the greetings of form e-mails and letters as in, “Hello Keith,” or “Dear Mr. Harper,”).
Rather than manually entering the first, middle, or last names in the respec- tive columns (or attempting to copy the entire client name from column A and then editing out the parts not needed in the First Name, Middle Name, and Last Name columns), you can use Flash Fill to quickly and effectively do the job. And here’s how you do it:
1. Type Keith in cell B2 and complete the entry with the ↓ or Enter key.
When you complete this entry with the ↓ key or Enter key on your key- board, Excel moves the cell pointer to cell B3, where you have to type only the first letter of the next name for Flash Fill to get the picture.
Data Entry 101 109
Book II Chapter 1
Building Worksheets