Google Sheets includes a machine learning feature called “Smart Fill” or Autocomplete. When you are performing repetitive data entry, such as extracting first names from a column of full email addresses, Google Sheets will attempt to recognize the pattern you are creating. Suddenly, a massive grey ghost-text overlay will appear across the rest of your empty column, suggesting that it can automatically fill in the remaining 500 rows for you.
While this is incredibly helpful if the AI guesses your intent correctly, it can be disastrous if the algorithm makes a mistake. If you accidentally hit Enter or Tab while typing, the software will instantly overwrite your empty column with incorrect, hallucinated data. If you are doing highly precise data entry (like accounting or medical records) where you cannot afford algorithmic mistakes, you must turn this feature off.
Disabling Autocomplete in Google Sheets Settings
You can completely disable the Smart Fill suggestions from the main tools menu. This setting applies globally to your Google Account.
- Open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets on your web browser.
- Look at the main menu bar at the top of the screen and click on Tools.
- From the dropdown menu, select Autocomplete (usually near the bottom).
- A secondary menu will pop out to the side. You will see several options here, such as “Enable autocomplete,” “Enable formula suggestions,” and “Enable formula corrections.”
- By default, these will all have a checkmark next to them. Click on Enable autocomplete to uncheck it.
- (Optional) If you also hate it when Google tries to guess your math formulas, you can repeat the process and uncheck “Enable formula suggestions.”
The change is instantaneous. As you continue to type down your column, Google Sheets will no longer pop up large, grey suggestion boxes, allowing you to enter your data manually with complete precision.