A field can fill itself instead of waiting for someone to type. Every field has a Fill setting with four choices: Manual, Default, Formula and AI. To open it, click the column header and choose Autofill, or open the field's settings and go to Fill.
| Fill | What it does | Field types |
|---|---|---|
| Manual | People set the value. Every field starts here. | All |
| Default | New items start with a value you pick. | Select, Multi-select, Status, Employee, Employee List, Team, Team List, Job, Job List, Date |
| Formula | The value is calculated from other fields of the item. No AI credit used. | Select, Status, Multi-select, Short text, Long text, Number, Rate, Checkbox, Date, Employee |
| AI | AI decides the value from the fields you pick, following your instruction. | Select, Status, Multi-select, Short text, Long text, Number, Rate, Checkbox, Date, Employee |
A field that fills itself is still an ordinary field: people can edit it, and you can filter and sort by it like any other.
| Field type | What the AI answers |
|---|---|
| Select, Status | Picks one of the field's options |
| Multi-select | Picks one or more of the options, up to At most |
| Short text | One line of text, up to 255 characters |
| Long text | A few paragraphs of text, up to 10,000 characters |
| Number | A number from Min to Max. An answer outside this range is not written |
| Rate | A whole number from 1 to the field's star count |
| Checkbox | Yes or no. Only an unset checkbox is filled |
| Date | A date the AI reads from the item. Turn on Include time for a time as well; times use your time zone |
| Employee | One member of this workspace, never a name that is not a member |
If the instruction or the fields to read are missing, the Fill setting tells you before you save: "Write what the AI should decide." or "Pick at least one field for the AI to read."
A formula can use the other fields of the item, arithmetic (+, -, * and /) and comparisons such as > and ==, and the functions IF, CONTAINS, TODAY, days_from, days_to, days_between and round. It cannot read the field it fills, and it can be up to 2,000 characters long. If a formula gives no value on a row, that row's field is left as it is.
Formula fill or Formula field? A Formula field shows a calculated value that nobody can edit. A formula fill writes an ordinary value into an ordinary field, so people can still change it. See Formula fields for the Formula field.
Choose Default and pick the Value for new items. Every new item that arrives without a value in this field gets it, for example a starting Status or the account manager who takes most new work. Items that already exist are not changed.
In both modes, values a person sets are never changed. When someone edits a filled value, the value becomes theirs, and later fills leave it alone. Only a refill you start yourself replaces it (see below).
Fill existing rows… fills the items that were in the sheet before you set up the fill. Open it from the Fill setting or from the column header menu, then choose a Scope:
The dialog shows Rows to fill and, for an AI fill, the Estimated cost. Start it with the button that names the row count, for example Fill 184 rows.
To redo one cell, hover it and click the refill icon: Refill with AI, or Recalculate for a formula. If the AI does not answer, the old value stays and you can try again.
To redo several rows, select them in the table and click Refill with AI in the selection bar, then choose the columns. The summary shows rows × columns = AI runs. A refill you start this way replaces values people set too, because you asked for it. With more than 50 rows selected, the Fill existing rows dialog opens for your selection.
For Select, Status and Multi-select fields, switch on Add a new option when nothing matches. When no existing option fits, the fill adds a new one to the field instead of leaving it empty.
Rows that a workflow, an AI agent or an email to the sheet creates or changes start autofill the same way as rows people add.
Each AI or formula fill also appears in the sheet's workflows, grouped under Autofill and marked "Managed by the … column's Fill setting." It is read-only there: change it from the column with Edit Fill, or Detach it to edit it as a normal workflow. Detaching switches the column's Fill to Manual.
Will a fill change a value someone typed? No. Only when empty and Keep updated never change a value a person set. Only a refill you start yourself does: Refill with AI on a cell or a selection, or Fill existing rows with the scope "All cells, including values set by a person".
What happened to the AI Text field? It was retired. Existing AI Text fields became Long text fields and kept their values. To have AI write into a field, set a Long text field's Fill to AI.
Can I use autofill on the Free plan? Yes. Every plan can use AI fills, drawing on the plan's AI budget, and formula fills are free.
Related: Field types explained · Formula fields · The AI budget · Build a sheet with custom fields