Hi there! It's definitely possible to auto transform sets of data in Excel. Here are some steps you can follow for the examples you provided:

1. Changing "male" to "M" and "female" to "F":
   - Select the column containing the data you want to transform
   - Click on the "Replace" button in the "Editing" section of the Home tab
   - In the "Find what" field, type
   Code:

   "male"

   and in the "Replace with" field, type
   Code:

   "M"

   - Click "Replace All"
   - Repeat the process for
   Code:

   "female"

   to
   Code:

   "F"

2. Combining separate columns into one:
   - Insert a new column where you want the combined data to appear
   - In the first row of the new column, type the formula
   Code:

   "=A1&", "&B1&", "&C1&", "&D1&", "&E1"

   (assuming your data is in columns A through E)
   - Drag the formula down to apply it to all rows
   
3. Automatically populating a column based on the heading of the column next to it:
   - Insert a new column where you want the populated data to appear
   - In the first row of the new column, type the formula
   Code:

   "=IF(B1="Paid","Yes","No")"

   (assuming the column next to it contains the heading "Paid")
   - Drag the formula down to apply it to all rows