Skip to main content

Excel: How to turn off auto complete

Author: Sun Last Modified: 2024-12-02

By default, Excel's AutoComplete feature fills cell values automatically based on previous entries when you type the first character, as shown in the screenshot below. While this can be helpful, it may become frustrating if you only want to enter a single character, such as "L," and move to the next cell. This guide explains how to disable the AutoComplete feature to prevent unwanted autofill.

A screenshot showing AutoComplete automatically filling cell values in Excel

Turn off AutoComplete


Turn off AutoComplete

Enable the workbook that you want to turn off the auto complete, and click File > Options.
A screenshot of the File and Options menu in Excel

In the Excel Options window, click Advanced in the left pane, then go to the Editing options section in the right part, and uncheck Enable AutoComplete for cell values checkbox. Click OK.
A screenshot of the Excel Options dialog with AutoComplete settings

Now the AutoComplete feature has been turned off. If you want to turn on it, repeat the above steps and check the Enable AutoComplete for cell values checkbox to turn it back on.
A screenshot showing AutoComplete disabled in Excel


Other Operations (Articles)

How To Fix/Lock Background Color In A Sheet
Sometimes, when you share a sheet with others to edit, you may want to lock the background color in a range of cells and prevent them to be changed.

How To Reduce Excel File Size?
Sometimes, it will take minutes to open or save if the Excel file is too large. For solving this problem, here in this tutorial, it tells you how to reduce the Excel file size by removing the contents or formats which are unnecessary or never used.

Excel: How To Create Or Insert A Bookmark
Have you ever imagined creating or inserting a bookmark for quickly jumping to a specific data range while there is a lot of data in a worksheet or a workbook?

How to apply shading to odd or even (alternative) rows/columns in Excel?
While designing a worksheet, many people tend to apply shading to odd or even (alternative) rows or columns in order to make the worksheet more visual. This article will show you two methods to apply shading to odd or even rows/columns in Excel.

Best Office Productivity Tools

🤖 Kutools AI Aide: Revolutionize data analysis based on: Intelligent Execution   |  Generate Code  |  Create Custom Formulas  |  Analyze Data and Generate Charts  |  Invoke Kutools Functions…
Popular Features: Find, Highlight or Identify Duplicates   |  Delete Blank Rows   |  Combine Columns or Cells without Losing Data   |   Round without Formula ...
Super Lookup: Multiple Criteria VLookup    Multiple Value VLookup  |   VLookup Across Multiple Sheets   |   Fuzzy Lookup ....
Advanced Drop-down List: Quickly Create Drop Down List   |  Dependent Drop Down List   |  Multi-select Drop Down List ....
Column Manager: Add a Specific Number of Columns  |  Move Columns  |  Toggle Visibility Status of Hidden Columns  |  Compare Ranges & Columns ...
Featured Features: Grid Focus   |  Design View   |   Big Formula Bar    Workbook & Sheet Manager   |  Resource Library (Auto Text)   |  Date Picker   |  Combine Worksheets   |  Encrypt/Decrypt Cells    Send Emails by List   |  Super Filter   |   Special Filter (filter bold/italic/strikethrough...) ...
Top 15 Toolsets12 Text Tools (Add Text, Remove Characters, ...)   |   50+ Chart Types (Gantt Chart, ...)   |   40+ Practical Formulas (Calculate age based on birthday, ...)   |   19 Insertion Tools (Insert QR Code, Insert Picture from Path, ...)   |   12 Conversion Tools (Numbers to Words, Currency Conversion, ...)   |   7 Merge & Split Tools (Advanced Combine Rows, Split Cells, ...)   |   ... and more

Supercharge Your Excel Skills with Kutools for Excel, and Experience Efficiency Like Never Before. Kutools for Excel Offers Over 300 Advanced Features to Boost Productivity and Save Time.  Click Here to Get The Feature You Need The Most...


Office Tab Brings Tabbed interface to Office, and Make Your Work Much Easier

  • Enable tabbed editing and reading in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, Visio and Project.
  • Open and create multiple documents in new tabs of the same window, rather than in new windows.
  • Increases your productivity by 50%, and reduces hundreds of mouse clicks for you every day!