How to select one or more cells in spreadsheet software

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You may choose or highlight one or more cells in a spreadsheet tool like Microsoft Excel so that you can format those cells or copy them.
Continue reading to find out more about selecting cells.

Select just one cell

Use your mouse to do a left-click on the appropriate cell in a worksheet to select just that one cell.
A single selected cell becomes the active cell and appears bold or has a box around it after it has been picked.

The arrow keys on the keyboard can also be used to move the chosen cell, the active cell.
If a cell is empty, you can start entering text to fill it with information.
Pressing F2 on the keyboard will allow you to edit any existing data that is currently present in that cell.

Continue reading the next sections if you need to pick more than one cell.

Select several individual cells

Follow the instructions below to pick numerous individual cells in a worksheet.

  1. Click Ctrl and hold it.
  2. Left-click each cell you wish to choose while holding Ctrl.

Each selected cell is darkened to denote selection.

Once the selected cells are highlighted, you may right-click any of the highlighted cells and choose Properties to edit their properties, such as changing the color of the cell.

The active cell is included among the highlighted cells when there are numerous cells being highlighted.

Select a range of cells

Choose a selection of neighboring cells in a worksheet using one of the choices listed below.

Method 1: Drag the mouse.

  1. The first cell in the range you wish to pick should be left-clicked.
  2. Drag the mouse cursor to the final cell in the range while continuing to depress the left mouse button.

For instance, to select cells B1 through B5, left-click the B1 cell and then, while holding down the left mouse button, drag the mouse to the B5 cell.

Method 2: Using the Shift key

  1. The first cell in the range you wish to pick should be left-clicked.
  2. Hold Shift down.
  3. Click with your left mouse on the range’s final cell while keeping Shift pressed.

To select cells B1 through E1, for instance, left-click the B1 cell, hold down Shift, and then click the E1 cell.

Method 3: Using the F8 key

  1. Press F8.
  2. To highlight any cell you desire, use the arrow keys.
    Alternatively, you may use the mouse to click the final position of the thing you wish to be highlighted.
  3. Once everything you want is highlighted, you may right-click the selection or copy the highlighted cells using a different shortcut key, such as Ctrl+C.

Select all cells

The procedures shown below may be used to select every cell in a worksheet.

  1. Head to the worksheet’s top row and leftmost column.
  2. To the left of the A column heading and above the 1 for the first row, click the shaded triangle-shaped square region.
    After clicking that square region, all cells on the worksheet are highlighted.

Additionally, you may select every cell in a worksheet by using Ctrl+A.