Selecting Non-Adjacent Cells in Excel with Keyboard and Mouse An Excel Keyboard Shortcut
By Ted French,
Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus, About.com Guide
Selecting Non-adjacent Cells in Excel 2007
© Ted French
By picking multiple cells in Excel you can delete data, apply formatting such as borders or shading,
Windows 7, or apply other options to large areas of a worksheet all at one time.
While using the drag select method with the mouse to quickly highlight a block of adjacent cells is probably the most common way of choosing more than one cell, there are times when the cells you want to highlight are not located beside each other.
When this occurs, it is possible to select non-adjacent cells. Although choosing non-adjacent cells can be done solely with the keyboard,
Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus, it is easier to do using the keyboard and mouse together.
Picking Non-Adjacent Cells in Excel
Note: For help with this example, see the image to the right.
Click on the first cell you want to select with the mouse pointer to make it the active cell.
Press and hold down the Ctrl key on the keyboard.
Click on the rest of the cells you want to select Without releasing the Ctrl key.
Once all the desired cells are selected,
Office 2010 Professional, release the Ctrl key.
Do Not click anywhere else with the mouse pointer once you release the Ctrl key or you will clear the highlight from the selected cells.
If you release the Ctrl key too soon and wish to highlight more cells,
Microsoft Office Professional 2007, simply press and hold down the Ctrl key again and then click on the additional cell(s).
Other Keyboard Shortcuts
Adding the Current Time
Adding the Current Date
ALT - TAB Fast Switching in Windows