What is the most efficient way to select multiple adjacent cells in your spreadsheet?

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Sometimes you may need to format or delete some non-adjacent cells or ranges, and work will be easier if you can select these non-adjacent cells or ranges together firstly. And this article is going to brings you some tricky ways to select non-adjacent cells or ranges quickly.

  • Select non-adjacent cells or ranges with hotkeys
  • Select non-adjacent cells or ranges with Go To feature
  • Select non-adjacent cells or ranges with Kutools for Excel

Quickly select non-adjacent cells or ranges with keyboards

1. With Ctrl key

Just press and hold down the Ctrl key, and you can select multiple non-adjacent cells or ranges with mouse clicking or dragging in active worksheet.

2. With Shift + F8 keys

This does not require holding down keys during selection. Press the Shift + F8 keys firstly, and then you can easily select multiple non-adjacent cells or ranges in active worksheet.


Quickly select non-adjacent cells or ranges with Go To command

The Microsoft Excel's Go to command can help you select non-adjacent cells or ranges quickly with following steps:

1. Click the Home > Find & Select > Go to (or press the F5 key).

What is the most efficient way to select multiple adjacent cells in your spreadsheet?

2. In the Go To dialog box, enter the cell/range positions in the Reference box, and click lick the OK button.

And then all corresponding cells or ranges will be selected in the workbook. See screenshot:

What is the most efficient way to select multiple adjacent cells in your spreadsheet?

Note: This method requires user to figure out the cells or ranges position before selecting them.

Easily copy and paste multiple non-adjacent cells or ranges simultaneously in Excel

You may have noticed Microsoft Excel does not support copy multiple inconsecutive cells (staying in different columns) at the same time. But copying these cells/selections one by one waste of much time and is tedious! Kutools for Excel’s Copy Ranges utility can help get it done easily as below screenshot shown. Full Feature Free Trial 30-day!

What is the most efficient way to select multiple adjacent cells in your spreadsheet?

Quickly select non-adjacent cells or ranges with Kutools for Excel

If you have Kutools for Excel, its Select Range Helper tool can help you select multiple non-adjacent cells or ranges in the whole workbook easily.

Kutools for Excel- Includes more than 300 handy tools for Excel. Full feature free trial 30-day, no credit card required! Get It Now

1. Click the Kutools > Select > Select Range Helper….

What is the most efficient way to select multiple adjacent cells in your spreadsheet?

2. In the Select Range Helper dialog box, check the Union Selection option, next select multiple ranges as you need in the whole workbook, and then click the Close button. See screenshot:

What is the most efficient way to select multiple adjacent cells in your spreadsheet?

For more detailed information about Select Range Helper, please visit Select Range Helper       Free Download Kutools for Excel Now


Demo: select non-adjacent cells or ranges in Excel

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What is the most efficient way to select multiple adjacent cells in your spreadsheet?


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What is the most efficient way to select multiple adjacent cells in your spreadsheet?

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How do you select multiple adjacent cells in Excel?

To select a range, select a cell, then with the left mouse button pressed, drag over the other cells. Or use the Shift + arrow keys to select the range. To select non-adjacent cells and cell ranges, hold Ctrl and select the cells.

What is the fastest way to select multiple objects in Excel?

To select one object, click the object. To select multiple shapes in a group, press and hold Shift or Ctrl while you click the shapes.

Which method is the most common way to select multiple cells?

The most intuitive and common method is by dragging the mouse over the spreadsheet or using the 'Shift' key. You could also select or deselect multiple cells, rows, and columns by using the 'Ctrl' key on your keyboard. This method could be combined with dragging the mouse and using the 'Shift' key.

How can you quickly select all the cells in a spreadsheet?

Select all cells on a worksheet.
Click the Select All button..
Press CTRL+A. Note If the worksheet contains data, and the active cell is above or to the right of the data, pressing CTRL+A selects the current region. Pressing CTRL+A a second time selects the entire worksheet..