Making your life more efficient is the goal of almost every electronic device that you use on a regular basis.
Whether it’s your phone trying to predict the words that you are going to type in a text message, or your Web browser filling in search phrases or addresses that you visit a lot, this feature can be useful.
But it can also create problems, which is why you may be looking for a way to disable the autocomplete feature in Google Sheets.
Autocomplete is a helpful setting in a number of different programs where you might be repeatedly entering the same word.
Autocomplete works by recognizing the first few letters that you have typed, seeing that a similar word already exists in the document, then offering that word to you in the form of a blue-highlighted suggestion.
If you press Enter on your keyboard when the autocompletion is presented, Sheets will add that word to the cell without requiring you to type the rest of it.
While this is helpful sometimes, you may find that it is causing you problems. Fortunately autocomplete can be disabled in Google Sheets by completing the steps below.
How to Turn Off Autocomplete in Google Sheets
- Open your Sheets file.
- Click Tools.
- Open Suggestion controls, then uncheck Enable autocomplete. If it is already unchecked, autocomplete is already off.
Our article continues below with additional information on enabling or disabling autocomplete in Google Sheets, including pictures of these steps.
How to Stop Autocomplete in Google Sheets (Guide with Pictures)
The steps in this article are going to prevent Google Sheets from giving you an autocomplete option when you are typing data. By this, we mean the text highlighted in blue that occurs when you start typing a word that is already in the sheet. For example, in the image below, Sheets is giving me an autocomplete option for the word September when I type the first few letters of the word.
Turning off the autocomplete option will prevent that from occurring.
Step 1: Go to your Google Drive at https://drive.google.com/drive/my-drive and double-click the spreadsheet for which you would like to disable autocomplete.
These steps apply to Google Sheets in a desktop browser.
Step 2: Open Tools, then Suggestion controls.
In the submenu, look for the checkmark beside Enable autocomplete. The current menu path is shown below.
Step 3: Uncheck Enable autocomplete.
Now when you start typing a word that already exists in Google Sheets it won’t give you the option to press Enter on your keyboard and add that word. Autocomplete has been disabled in the picture below.
Now that you know how to turn off AutoComplete in Google Sheets, you can stop the application from providing suggestions when you are typing data in cells.
If you’re used to merging cells in Excel, but are having trouble finding that option in Sheets, then learn how to merge cells with Google Sheets so that you can get the same effect in Google’s app.
Do you need to simultaneously change the width of multiple columns in Google Sheets, but you’re having trouble getting it to work? This guide will show you how to make it happen.
What is Autocomplete in Google Sheets?
Google Sheets is a good tool for organizing and analyzing data. Yet, even with all the power of spreadsheets at your fingertips, you may have trouble getting the spreadsheet to do exactly what you want it to.
Autocomplete can reduce repeated typing, but accepting an unwanted suggestion can insert text you did not intend. Turning the setting off lets you enter that text yourself.
Simply put, autocomplete in Google Sheets will provide a prediction, highlighted in blue, as you type a word into a cell. This occurs when another word in a cell starts with the same combination of letters.
Open Tools > Suggestion controls to check whether Enable autocomplete is selected. Click it only if a checkmark is present; otherwise you would turn the feature back on.
Google is continuously updating its applications, especially popular ones like Google Sheets, and the autocomplete feature is one that is often improved as the application matures.
For the repeated-text autocomplete described here, the suggestion completes text you have begun typing. It is not the same as using a formula to retrieve rows or columns from another spreadsheet.
The Enable autocomplete control also affects standard Smart Fill suggestions. Google documents this shared control in its Smart Fill instructions.
Is Autocomplete Different than the Fill Feature in Google Sheets?
If you have ever used Google Sheets to automatically fill in a pattern or series in one of the rows or columns of your spreadsheet then you may be wondering how this differs from the auto complete feature we have been discussing in this article.
The feature in Google Sheets that created filled columns with numbers that follow a pattern will still function the same way if autocomplete is turned off. So if you have a column with a list of increasing digits and you select some of those, then drag the bottom right handle down to fill more columns, Google Sheets will still know that you are trying to complete a pattern using the selected cells.
Dragging a fill handle is a deliberate action, unlike an automatic suggestion. Standard Smart Fill is another suggestion feature, however, and Google uses the same Enable autocomplete checkbox to turn it off.
More Information on How to Enable or Disable Google Sheets Autocomplete
To restore suggestions later, return to Tools > Suggestion controls and check Enable autocomplete. Turning suggestions off does not delete values or formulas you have already entered.
There are some additional autocomplete options that are available in Google Docs which can do things like automatically detect links or correct spelling. In Google Docs those settings are found by going to Tools > Preferences. Unfortunately, that same menu is not available in Google Sheets.
If you still see formula suggestions, check the separate Enable formula suggestions option under Tools > Suggestion controls. The current screenshot shows that option checked while Enable autocomplete is unchecked.
Continue Reading
- How to merge cells in Google Sheets
- How to wrap text in Google Sheets
- How to alphabetize in Google Sheets
- How to subtract in Google Sheets
- How to change row height in Google Sheets
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.