Google Sheet’s new Smart Autofill Add-on can be used to predict missing spreadsheet values

Google Sheets received a bit of an IQ boost today, with the release of a new Smart Autofill Add-on that predicts missing values for empty columns in a spreadsheet. Not to be confused with the application’s stock feature that fills in simple information such as dates and days of the weeks — Smart Autofill uses Google’s Prediction API tool to analyze existing spreadsheet data.

In the example above, Google used some basic information about used cars year, including vehicle type, mileage and number of doors. The company also included the price for some of the cars listed in the spreadsheet as well. Since prices are typically related to a car’s characteristics, you can use Smart Autofill to predict the estimated values of the vehicles without a listed price.

Once installed, you can use Smart Autofill by selecting “Add-ons > Smart Autofill > Start” which will generate a sidebar. From there select a block of data that includes the column to autofill, click “Next.” Lastly, from the selected field, choose a target column to autofill and click “Start.”

(via Google Research Blog)