Excel: Flash Fill Was Not Perfect

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Problem: Some people in my data set do not have middle initials. Flash Fill is putting periods between the first and last name for those people.

  1. Rose Mason is missing a middle initial, but Flash Fill still adds the period.

    Strategy: After the initial Flash Fill, find a record and type the correction. Flash Fill will kick in again, correcting items that match the new pattern. Watch the Status Bar in the lower left to see how many records were corrected.

  2. Flash Fill watches for you to make the first correction.

    After the correction, open the dropdown. You can select all of the newly changed cells. Use the Home tab to apply a fill color, so you can check the corrected cells.