Question
What are the range selection techniques in Excel?
Answer
To Select |
Do This |
A single cell |
Click the cell, or press the arrow keys to move to the cell. |
A range (range: Two or more cells on a sheet. The cells in a range can be adjacent or nonadjacent.) of cells |
Click the first cell in the range, and then drag to the last cell, or hold down SHIFT while you press the arrow keys to extend the selection. |
A large range of cells |
Click the first cell in the range, and then hold down SHIFT while you click the last cell in the range. You can scroll to make the last cell visible. |
All cells on a worksheet |
Click the Select All button.
To select the entire worksheet, you can also press CTRL+A |
Non-adjacent Cells |
Select the first cell or range of cells, and then hold down CTRL while you select the other cells or ranges.
Note: You cannot cancel the selection of a cell or range of cells in a nonadjacent selection without canceling the entire selection. |
Cells to the last used cell on the worksheet (lower-right corner) |
Select the first cell, and then press CTRL+SHIFT+END to extend the selection of cells to the last used cell on the worksheet (lower-right corner). |
Cells to the beginning of the worksheet |
Select the first cell, and then press CTRL+SHIFT+HOME to extend the selection of cells to the beginning of the worksheet. |
An entire row or column |
Click the row or column heading.
Note: If the row or column contains data, CTRL+SHIFT+ARROW KEY selects the row or column to the last used cell. Pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ARROW KEY a second time selects the entire row or column. |
Cancel a selection |
Click any cell on the worksheet. |
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