Autocomplete is a feature in many writing and math apps that we sometimes take for granted. The AI-powered feature can figure out, with some degree of accuracy, what the next word or number is in a sentence or math problem we might type in front of us.

For Excel users on Windows, auto-complete features using drop-down lists have been around for a while. Today, the Microsoft 365 Insider blog announced that it’s being added to the Excel apps for iOS, Android, and Mac.

The blog post states:

The attribute’s algorithm can match text from anywhere in the list item—the beginning, middle, or end of the text string. The algorithm also automatically removes empty items from the validation list.

With autocomplete, you can fill out forms and other types of content faster and more efficiently. You’ll spend less time scrolling through lists, dealing with data validation errors, or writing complex code to handle this task.

All Excel users need to do is open these supported apps and create a drop-down list. So they can just start putting text in a cell that matches one of the list items. They can select one of these list items or simply press the Enter key or icon.

Microsoft 365 Insiders can access Excel with the new autocomplete dropdown list feature in the following app versions:

• Android: Build 16.0.16816.10000 and later
• iOS: Version 2.77 (Build 23090704) and later
• Mac: Version 16.77 (Build 23091003) and later

There’s no word on when these features will become generally available.

Microsoft recently added support for the Python coding language within Excel for Microsoft 365 Insiders. It also plans to support the generative AI assistant Copilot in Excel specifically for editing and adding Python code. This feature will be added to the preview program later this year and will be introduced generally in 2024.