If AutoFill isn’t familiar to you, you could benefit greatly from our free Basic Skills E-book, which will show you the basics of Excel formulas, functions and AutoFill.

As dates and times are stored in Excel as numbers, these can also be used with the Excel Autofill. By default, if you just type in a single date or time and drag the fill handle, dates and times will complete in a series, by adding one day (for dates), or one hour (for times). On the Excel menu, click Preferences. Under Formulas and Lists, click AutoComplete. In the Show options after typing box, enter the number of letters that you want to type before the AutoComplete.

If you use AutoFill often, you’re probably used to double-clicking on the AutoFill handle to fill down a whole column of data, but you might wonder if you could do this more quickly by using a keyboard shortcut.

There isn’t a specific keyboard shortcut for AutoFilling in this way, but there are some alternatives that could be useful.

Flash Fill was first introduced in Excel 2013. It’s a form of AutoFill that tries to intelligently figure out what kind of data you are trying to fill and automatically provide the values you need.

It’s important to note that Flash Fill does not work with formulas; it will only work with ordinary values.

You can Flash Fill a whole column of data by simply pressing the <Ctrl>+<E> shortcut keys.

Flash Fill is explained in depth in the free Basic Skills E-book.

There actually is a shortcut key for the Fill Down feature: <Ctrl>+<D>

Unfortunately this doesn’t behave in the same way as double-clicking the AutoFill handle. Nothing will happen if you press <Ctrl>+<D> with only a single cell selected. For this to work you need to first select all of the cells that you need to fill down to, which usually takes longer than using the AutoFill handle.

Although there isn’t a shortcut key or Ribbon command that does the same thing as double-clicking the AutoFill handle, Excel still recognizes it as a command. This means that you can use Excel’s Repeat feature to AutoFill as many times as you need after you have done the first AutoFill manually.

The shortcut key for the Repeat command is <Ctrl>+<Y>, but you can also add this command to your Ribbon or Quick Access Toolbar.

Customizing the Ribbon and Quick Access toolbar is covered in our Essential Skills Books and E-books.

If you find that some of your autofill data is misspelled or outdated, it is possible to change it. You can also delete some or all autofill data if you desire to do so. To proceed, select your Internet browser from the list below and follow the steps.

Google Chrome

To modify your autofill data in Google Chrome, follow these steps.

1. Open Chrome.
2. Click the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen.
3. Select Settings.
4. Click the button at the bottom of the screen.
5. Under Passwords and forms, click the arrow on the right side of the Autofill settings bar.

To add autofill data

Click next to the Autofill item you'd like to create. Enter the information and then click the button.

To change autofill data

1. Click next to the entry you'd like to change.
2. Select Edit.

3. Make your edits and then click the button.

To delete autofill data

1. Click next to the entry you'd like to delete.
2. Select Remove.

Mozilla Firefox

To modify your autofill data in Firefox, follow these steps.

1. Open Firefox.
2. Click the button in the upper-right corner of the browser window.
3. Select Options (called Preferences in macOS and Linux).
4. In the next window, select the Privacy & Security tab.

To add autofill data

1. Click the button.
2. Click the button.
3. Fill out the information, and then click the button.

To change autofill data

1. Click the button.
2. Click the address you'd like to change, then the button.
3. Make your edits, then click the button.

To delete autofill data

Select the entry you'd like to delete, then click the button.

Microsoft Edge

Autofill In Excel Macro

To modify your autofill data in Microsoft Edge, follow these steps.

1. Click in the upper-right corner of the screen.
2. Select Settings.

4. Scroll to the bottom and select the button.
5. Click the option in the middle of the Autofill entries list.

To create a form entry - Click on , fill out the appropriate information, then click the button.

To edit the form entry - Click on an existing form entry, make your changes, then click the button.

To delete a form entry - Hover your mouse over the entry, and then click the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer only allows users to enable and disable autofill, or clear its history, but not change specific entries.

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. In the upper-right corner of the screen, click the icon.
3. Select Internet options.

Autofill Excel Macro Last Row

4. In the window that opens, click the Content tab (A) and then select Settings (B) in the AutoComplete section.

5. On the next menu, you have your two options:

To toggle AutoComplete on or off - Check or uncheck the box next to Forms and Searches.

To delete AutoComplete history - Click the button, check the box next to Form data, and then click the button.

Opera

To modify your autofill data in the Opera web browser, follow these steps.

Mac Autofill Settings

1. Open Opera.
2. Click the button.
3. Select Settings.
4. On the left side of the screen, select Privacy and security.

To add autofill data

1. Click the button.
2. Then, in the Autofill settings window, click the or button.
3. Fill out all settings you want to save, click OK, and then Done.

To change autofill data

1. Click the button.
2. Move your mouse over the entry you'd like to edit.
3. On the right side of the screen, click the button.
4. Fill out all settings you want to save and click OK, and then Done.

To delete autofill data

Autofill Excel Shortcut

1. Click the button.
2. Move your mouse over the entry you'd like to remove.
3. On the right side of the screen, click the button.

Safari

To modify the Autofill settings in Safari, follow the steps below.

1. Open Safari.
2. In the menu bar, open the menu, and click Preferences.

3. In the Preferences window, click the AutoFill tab (A).

4. Under AutoFill web forms, you can completely disable any of the four categories (B), or head into the editing menus for each and customize your preferences (C).

Additional information

• See the autofill definition for further information and related links.