Flash Fill - Wrong Pattern for Filling Month Names

Question

Hi all,&nbsp;This is what the Flash Fill suggests to fill the full month names!&nbsp;&nbsp;It should be smart in this regard to recognizes this simple pattern!What do you think?

wyn hopkins · Answer

The opposite would work (extract first 3 characters). There has to be some pattern.

Or type January then double click on the corner of the fill handle to create list of full months.

I see what you're saying but I don't think it's unexpected behaviour

sergeibaklan · Answer

Yes, that's expected behaviour and that's why I prefer not to use Flash Fill on relatively big ranges - you always have to check if it found correct pattern for all data.

detlef_lewin · Answer

Haytham Amairah&nbsp;In that particular case don't use Flash Fill but Auto Fill.&nbsp;

sergeibaklan · Answer

Haytham Amairah&nbsp;, not the same but related topic is here&nbsp;https://excel.uservoice.com/forums/304921-excel-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/33539752-add-short-month-name-and-short-day-name-in-power-q, you may vote

wyn hopkins · Answer

yep they're based on the same technology,  but at least Power Query tells you the forrmula it's writing which is much safer.   As Sergei says, I don't trust FlashFill further than a I can see.

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Flash Fill - Wrong Pattern for Filling Month Names

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