# Weekly Dynamic: Flash Fill in Excel 2013

- URL: https://dynamicaccounting.net/weekly-dynamic-flash-fill-in-excel-2013/
- Date: 2012-11-05
- Topics: Tips & Hidden Features, Excel & Office
- Type: original article

Microsoft Excel 2013 has a great new feature for manipulating data. It’s called Flash Fill and here is how it works.

Let’s say that I have last name, first name data like this:

[![](/img/blogger/ca568da0ed5faf71.png)](/img/blogger/ca568da0ed5faf71.png)

I want First Name Last Name no comma. I can write a formula to split and change the data. I can use text to columns to split the data at the comma and bring it back together with a formula. Both options require some work.

With Flash Fill, I go to cell B1 and type Mark Polino to tell Excel what I want my data to look like. When I go to B2 and start to type Tony Romo Excel 2013 figures out the pattern and offers to make the change to the rest of the column.

[![](/img/blogger/3d12cd0067fb6587.png)](/img/blogger/3d12cd0067fb6587.png)

Hit Enter and Excel 2013 finishes the pattern filling in the rest of column. This is really cool. I’ve found that occasionally it takes a couple of examples for really complex patters but common ones like name manipulation take very little work.

One caveat, Excel just makes the change, it doesn’t create a formula so changing the source in Column A doesn’t change the result after the Flash Fill has run.