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salalalazar's avatar
salalalazar
Copper Contributor
Apr 09, 2023

autocomplete stopped working after update

Office 365 just updated. Now, autocomplete only works for some columns. So if I'm in column A, and typing the exact same text from the cell directly above, the text will suggest autocomplete and I ca...
excel
BenTheWicked's avatar
BenTheWicked
Copper Contributor
Jun 16, 2023
I'm using Office Online, and the only option I have in the Options section is Regional Format Settings. Also, my Excel is able to autofill the top row, but it does not seem to see or recognize any other row. It started only autofilling the top row about an hour into my project, so it was previously working correctly. I closed the sheet and reopened it, but it still only fills the top row. Is there another way to turn autofill back on or adjust it to recognize the rest of my sheet?
ihavetheanswerthistime's avatar
ihavetheanswerthistime
Copper Contributor
Aug 07, 2023

BenTheWicked I had the same problem for weeks, and I don't know exactly which step fixed it, but here's what I tried this morning and now it's working!

1) duplicate the sheet (within the workbook)

2) insert a blank row above the content you're working on/below the headers

3) test autocomplete, and see that it's working on the duplicated sheet

4) delete the duplicate sheet so that I'm back to the original sheet

5) insert the blank row again, below the headers and above the content

6) test and see that autocomplete is working again
7) delete the blank row
😎 now it seems fixed!

 

The reason I tried this is because my workbook has several sheets, and autocomplete was working as expected on the other sheets but was not working as intended (same as you described) on the first sheet. The issue only came up in the web browser version -- when I switched to the desktop version of excel (to double check settings) it was working without issue, so that didn't seem to provide a path to resolution. I also read elsewhere (while I was trying to diagnose the issue) that autocomplete only works for contiguous (no gaps) cells, so I figured if it's able to autocomplete the headers but not the content, maybe I just need to break the headers away from the content so they're no longer contiguous, that might force autocomplete to sort itself out.

 

I'm not sure exactly which part of my troubleshooting steps fixed it, but it's fixed for me now in the web browser version on the sheet that was causing troubles. Best of luck to future readers who come across the same issue, I hope this works for you too!