How to create and fill new custom lists quickly in Excel?
Normally we can sort data or fill blank cell with custom list in Excel. However, there are only four kinds of built-in custom list: the day of week and the month of year, such as Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, etc. Sometimes you may use some specific contents for many times in Excel, but without using the custom list you may have to reenter it over and over again. Actually, you can create a custom list of these contents in Excel, and then you can quickly use the custom list at any time in Excel without retyping the same contents again.
Create and fill new custom lists with Excel built-in Custom Lists
Create and fill new custom lists horizentally or vertically
Create and fill new custom lists randomly without duplicates
Comparison of Methods for Creating and Filling Custom Lists in Excel
Excel lets you create custom lists for frequently used sequences and reuse them whenever needed. You can use Excel's built-in Custom Lists feature for standard sequential filling, Kutools for Excel's Fill Custom Lists feature for more direct horizontal or vertical filling, or Kutools' Insert Random Data feature when the custom-list items need to be filled randomly.
| Comparison | Excel Custom Lists | Kutools Fill Custom Lists | Kutools Insert Random Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fill order | Fills the custom-list items sequentially by dragging the fill handle | Fills the custom list sequentially, either vertically or horizontally | Randomly fills cells with items from the selected custom list |
| First value required | Yes — enter the first item and drag the fill handle to continue the sequence | No — select the destination and fill the custom list directly | No — select the destination range and randomly fill it from the custom list |
| Random fill | ✘ Designed for sequential custom-list filling | ✘ Designed for sequential horizontal or vertical filling | ✔ Randomly fills custom-list items and supports Unique Values to avoid duplicates |
| Best for | Creating reusable sequences and filling them with Excel's standard AutoFill | Quickly filling reusable custom sequences across a selected range | Randomly assigning custom-list items, especially when non-repeating results are required |
Create and fill new custom lists with Excel built-in Custom Lists
You can apply Excel's Custom List feature to create a new custom list, and then fill the new custom list horizontally or vertically as you need easily. Please do as follows:
1. Click File > Options to open the Excel Options dialog box.
2. In the Excel Options dialog box, click Advanced button at left bar, scroll to the General section and click the Edit Custom List button. See screenshot:
Note: If you are using the Excel 2007, please click the Office Button > Excel Options > Popular, and then you will get the Edit Custom Lists button in the Top options for working with Excel section.
3. In the Options dialog box, please select the NEW LIST item in the Custom lists box; type each item of the custom list into the List entries box, and click the Add button. See left screenshot:
Notes:
(1) You need type the list of values separated by Enter button or comma.
(2) If the values exist in current workbook, you can click the 
Browse button behind the Import list from cells box to select the cells, and click Import button.
4. Click OK buttons in all dialog boxes. And your custom list has been created, so when you enter the first value of your list, and then drag the fill handle to the cell that you want to fill, your custom list values will be filled into the cells in order. You can fill the values vertically or horizontally.
Create and fill new custom lists horizentally or vertically
With the above method, you need to enter the first value and then drag the fill handle to fill the cells, but here, I introduce a quicker tool for you. With Kutools for Excel’s Fill Custom Lists utility, you can create your own custom list and fill the values in a selected range vertically or horizontally without inputting the first value.
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1. Click Kutools > Insert Tools > Fill Custom Lists, and then click the Edit List button in the opening Fill Custom Lists dialog box. See screenshot:
2. Now in the opening Options dialog box, please select the NEW LIST item in the Custom lists box; type each item of the custom list into the List entries box, and then click the Add button and OK button successively. See screenshot:
Notes:
(1) You need type the list of values separated by Enter button or comma.
(2) If the values exist in current workbook, you can click the Browse button behind the Import list from cells box to select the cells, and click Import button.
3. Now you get back to the Fill Custom Lists dialog box, please do as below:
(1) Select the first cell of destination range where you will random fill the new custom list;
(2) In the Fill Custom Lists dialog box, please select the Fill vertically cell after cell option or Fill Horizontally cell after cell option from the Fill order drop down list;
(3) Click to highlight the new custom list;
(4) Click the Fill Range button.
And then the new custom list is filled into the destination range vertically or horizontally as you configured See left screenshot:
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Create and randomly fill new custom lists without duplicates
Apart from creating a custom list and then fill the list ordinarily, Kutools for Excel’s Insert Random Data utility provides Excel users another workaround: create a custom list from excel cell data, and then randomly fill the new custom list in another column easily.
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1. Click Kutools > Insert > Insert Random Data. See left screenshot:
2. In the opening Insert Random Data dialog box, please click the 
Add button on the Custom list tab; In the next popping up Kutools for Excel dialog box, please click the Browse button; and in the second Kutools for Excel dialog box, please select the list of cells which you will create as a custom list, and click the OK > OK buttons. See below screenshot:
And now you get back to the Insert Random Data dialog box with the new custom list selected.
3. Please select the range where you will randomly fill this new custom list, check the Unique Values optionand click the Ok button successively in the Insert Random Data dialog box. See screenshot:
Conclusion
Excel's built-in Custom Lists are useful for frequently reused sequences. You can create a list manually or import existing worksheet values, enter the first item of the saved list, and drag the fill handle to fill the remaining items horizontally or vertically.
Kutools for Excel's Fill Custom Lists makes sequential filling more direct. After creating or selecting a custom list, you can choose to fill it vertically or horizontally and fill the destination range without first entering an item and dragging the fill handle.
Kutools for Excel's Insert Random Data is designed for a different requirement: randomly filling cells from a custom list. You can create a custom list from existing worksheet data, randomly fill another range with its items, and enable Unique Values when each item should appear only once.
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