Run AutoFill on Microsoft Excel

AutoFill is a search tool that retrieves, and optionally inserts, RFP answers by matching the text in questions to a content record's properties or content. You can run AutoFill on Microsoft Excel or Word questionnaires. After you add an AutoFill suggestion to a cell, other participants will see an orange border around the cell that indicates it is checked out. They will not see the content of inserted suggestions until you complete AutoFill for the cell.

Caution: Projects support the cell character limits set in Excel on the Data tab, under Data Validation > Settings. If you add content that exceeds the limit, the cell border and info icon will turn red and an error message will display. The cell border and info icon will remain red and the error message will display in the cell's activity card until the characters are within accepted limits. You cannot build a project until the error is resolved. For more information on character limits in Excel, visit Microsoft Support.

Note: AutoFill's automatic learning functionality can be disabled at the user level to prevent bad behaviors, such as incorrect answer suggestions to questionnaire responses. For example, you might disable AutoFill learning temporarily for new users until they become familiar with Qvidian. To disable AutoFill automatic learning, which is enabled by default, deselect the “Add search term to the library content when AutoFill suggestion is accepted and AutoFill is completed” setting found in your desired user's Application Permissions.

Caution: The file size limit of automatically inserted (auto populated) AutoFill answers is 300 KB; the limit for manually inserted AutoFill answers is 750 KB. If you would like to insert a larger file, you can drag and drop it from the library. If your organization routinely works with larger content records and would like to increase the file size limit, please contact Support. Increased files sizes will decrease the speed of AutoFill.

Caution: The file size limit of automatically inserted (auto-populated) AutoFill answers is 10 MB and has no limit for manually inserted AutoFill answers.

Run AutoFill

  1. Do one of the following:
    1. To run AutoFill for selected slices, select one or more cells, right click, and select AutoFill from the menu.
    2. Select the cell, click the AutoFill Options AutoFill Options button icon at the top of the page and select the Run AutoFill option.

      Note: If you have tables in your RFP, the following message will display: "Tables have been detected. Results for tables will not be shown. Select table(s) separately for AutoFill to process them." 

  2. The AutoFill panel will open and display the Settings tab, where you can set up your AutoFill configuration.

    3. Tip: When you set up and run AutoFill, the configuration is remembered. If you want to use the same settings, you can skip the setup and click Run AutoFill.

  3.  Under Answers, select one of the following:
    • Insert top answer from the Library: Automatically inserts the top suggested content record into the file beneath each question cell and lists the top 5 suggestions in the dashboard. You can choose to replace the top suggestion.
    • Show top 5 answers from the Library: Lists the top 5 suggestions from the library, allowing you to manually select the desired answer. You can add one or more suggestions manually.

    • The new Projects area allows AI Assist to integrate seamlessly with existing and new AutoFill functionality. When enabled, the following AI Assist options are available in the AutoFill Configuration area:

      • Answer with AI Assist: Automatically inserts a custom answer written by AI Assist into the file beneath each question slice and lists the top 5 suggestions in the dashboard. You can choose to replace the top suggestion. The following user permission must be enabled to see this option: "Allow user to use AI Assist in AutoFill to SHOW a generated answer for each question".
      • Show top 5 answers from the Library plus an answer written by AI Assist: The search results include a custom answer written by AI Assist followed by the top 5 suggestions from the library. Manually select the desired answer. You can add one or more suggestions manually. The following user permission must be enabled to see this option: "Allow user to use AI Assist in AutoFill to INSERT a generated answer for each question".

      Once AutoFill runs, the AI generated answer will appear at the top of the Results panel and display the following options on the card: 

      • Insert: This option allows you to insert or remove responses.
      • Download: Select Download from the More Options menu.
      • Preview / Show Preview: Click the Show Preview button or select Preview from the More Options menu.
      • View Sources in Library: Select View Sources in Library from the More Options menu. The library will open in a new tab and display all the sources that have been used to generate the AI Assist response.

      Caution: If an answer is found, but the content does not match the question, the following message is displayed: "The provided context does not contain information about...". If no answer is found, the following message is displayed: "No results were found!".

      Note: The AutoFill with AI Assist feature is only available to AI Assist customers. To enable AI Assist in your environment, contact your CSM.

      Note: When running AutoFill with AI Assist on a multi-part question, the system may generate up to 5 answers for each question that is found.

  4. Select the number of cells and the direction from the question cell in which to add the content using the Insert answers in area(s) dropdown menus.

    5. Example: To add content to the cell directly below the question cell, select "1", and then select "Down".

  5. Choose a Language to search, if you store content in multiple languages. The search will only return records tagged with the selected language in the record's properties.
  6. Select the content record properties to run the search against:
    • Title: Title of the content record.
    • Keywords: Keywords are words or phrases manually assigned to content records to categorize them.
    • Search terms: Terms are automatically added to content records to improve search results.
    • Content: The text in the content.
  7. To search custom terms, enter text into the search bar and clicking the Search Search button button or pressing Enter.

    8. Note: To clear the Search box, click the X in the field.

  8. Click the Folders tab to narrow your search results.

    9. Tip: AutoFill's Folders tab uses Search Mode functionality. For more information see, Search Mode Folders.

  9. Click the Filters tab to narrow your search results.

    10. Tip: AutoFill's Filters tab uses Search Mode functionality, including suggested filters. For more information see, Search Mode Filters.

  10. Click Run AutoFill. As AutoFill returns the results for each selected cell, the left side border of the slice will turn purple, the progress will be indicated on the right side of the RFP title bar and the AutoFill panel displays in the dashboard. Once the AutoFill process is complete, a dialog displays. You do not need to wait for all the results to be returned to begin working with suggestions.
    • If you chose to automatically insert records, the top suggested result will be inserted beneath each selected question cell.
    • If you chose to have the top answers suggested, do one of the following: 
      • Click the Insert icon for the desired slice(s). If desired, click the Change insert location dropdown menu to update where the answer will be inserted.
      • Drag and drop the suggestion into the question slice(s).
    • If the top suggestion is a non-Word file, the suggestion will not be automatically inserted. Click the Download Download icon icon. Once the file has completed downloading, open it and copy the desired content. Right-click the blank answer slice and select Edit Inline and paste the copied content directly into the slice and click Save.

    11. Note: A blue checkmark displays on the record(s) that are inserted into the questionnaire.  Click the Remove response checkmark on any suggestion in the AutoFill panel to remove it from the cell. When you remove a suggestion, the cell returns to its previous state.

    Tip: If you choose not to use any AutoFill suggestions, you can cancel AutoFill for individual questions or the entire questionnaire by clicking the AutoFill Options AutoFill Options button icon at the top of the page and select the Stop and Cancel AutoFill option.

  11. Click Complete. If you chose to run AutoFill on the entire document, click the AutoFill Options AutoFill Options button icon at the top of the page and select the Complete All AutoFill Responses option.

    12. Note: To discard suggestions for selected slices, click the Discard button at the bottom of the AutoFill panel. To discard suggestions for all slices in the file, click the AutoFill Options AutoFill Options button icon at the top of the page and select the Discard All AutoFill Responses option. Once discarded, the purple border will be removed and suggestions will no longer display when the slice or cell is clicked.

Next tasks:

Once you have finished running AutoFill, you may want to: