Using Flash Fill in Excel 2013

Flash Fill is a new feature in Excel 2013, which automates tasks such as reformatting dates and other information as well as separating or combining columns of information.

Reformatting Data

In the above example column A contains unformatted dates, Flash Fill can be used to format them.

• In the next column, first cell (i.e. next to the first entry to be converted), manually type in the formatted date.
• On the Data tab in the Data Tools group, click the Flash Fill button and the other entries will be converted too.

Extracting Data

In this example, data will be separated into three cells from a combined cell.

• In the 2nd column, first cell manually type in the title
• On the Data tab in the Data Tools group, click the Flash Fill button and the other entries will be converted too.
• Repeat for each column

Combining Data

In this example, data will be combined from three cells into a single cell.

• In the next column, first cell manually type in the full name
• On the Data tab in the Data Tools group, click the Flash Fill button and the other entries will be converted too.