autfill

Autfill is a term used to describe the automatic population of form fields and related data by software systems. In practice, autfill aims to speed data entry and improve consistency by supplying known values from a user's profile, previously submitted forms, or context derived from the current session. The term is often spelled autofill in common usage; autfill may appear as a variant or misspelling.

Mechanisms include browser autofill, password managers, mobile keyboards, and application-level data stores. These systems may draw data from local storage, synchronized accounts, or enterprise directories, and they may use identifiers such as field names, input hints, or pattern matching to determine which values to insert. Some implementations are manual (explicitly triggered by the user), while others attempt to fill fields automatically when a form is loaded or focused.

Applications span consumer web forms, e-commerce checkout, registration flows, and enterprise data-entry tools. In browsers, autofill can populate contact details, addresses, and payment information; in apps, it can insert user preferences or previously entered values. AI-assisted autfill can also predict field content based on context and user history, sometimes offering multiple choices.

Security and privacy considerations are central. Risks include leakage of sensitive data, incorrect field population, and phishing attacks that present convincing forms. Best practices emphasize user consent, clear UI indicators of what will be filled, per-field controls, secure handling of sensitive data, and requiring explicit confirmation for critical fields.

Related topics include autofill, autocomplete, form automation, and password management. See that autfill refers to the broader class of automatic data-entry techniques across software platforms.