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There are a number of ways to select cells, rows and columns in Excel – these are explained in more detail below:
| To Select | Use |
| A single cell | Click the cell or use the arrow keys to move to the cell |
| A range of cells | Click the first cell in the range and then drag to the last cell or click the first cell, hold down the SHIFT key and use the arrow keys to extend the selection or press F8 and extend the selection by using the arrow keys (press F8 again to stop extending the selection) |
| A large range of cells | Click the first cell in the range, hold down the SHIFT key and click the last cell in the range |
| All cells on a worksheet | Click the Select All button (positioned above row 1 and to the left of column A or press CTRL+A (if the worksheet contains data, CTRL+A will only select the current data, press CTRL+A a second time to select all the data) |
| Non- adjacent cells or cell ranges | Select the first cell, hold down the CTRL key and click all other cells that you want to select. |
| An entire row or column | Click the column heading or the row number |
| Adjacent rows or columns | Click the first column or row heading and drag to select all adjacent rows or columns |
| Non-adjacent rows or columns | Click the first column or row heading, hold down the CTRL key and click all other columns or rows |
| The first or last cell in a row or column | Select a cell in the column or row, hold down the CTRL key and use the left or right arrow keys for rows or up or down arrow keys for columns |
| The first or last cell on a worksheet or an Excel table | Press CTRL+Home to select the first cell in a worksheet or list. Press CTRL+End to select the last cell in a worksheet or list |
| Cells to the last used on the worksheet | Select the first cell and then press CTRL+SHIFT+End to extend the selection to the last used cell |
| Cells to the beginning of the worksheet | Select the last cell and then press CTRL+SHIFT+Home to extend the selection of cells to the first used cell on the worksheet |
| More or fewer cells than the active selection | Whilst a range of cells is selected, hold down the SHIFT key and click the last cell that you want to select. The range will be extended to include (or exclude) cells |
| Cancel a selection of cell | Click any other cell on the worksheet |
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