Select Non-Adjacent Cells in Excel Using Shortcut Keys
Related Tutorial: Select Non-Adjacent Cells Using the Keyboard and Mouse
By selecting multiple cells in Excel you can delete data, apply formatting such as borders or shading, 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 selecting 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. This can be done using the keyboard and mouse together or with the keyboard alone.
Using just the keyboard alone to select non-adjacent cells requires you to use the keyboard in Extended Mode.
Extended mode is activated by pressing the F8 key on the keyboard. You shut off extended mode by pressing the Shift and F8 keys on the keyboard together.
Select Single Non-Adjacent Cells in Excel Using the Keyboard
For help with this example see the image above.
- Move the cell cursor to the first cell you want to select.
- Press and release the F8 key on the keyboard to start Extended Mode and to highlight the first cell.
- Without moving the cell cursor, press and release the Shift + F8 keys on the keyboard together to shut off extended mode.
- Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the cell cursor to the next cell you wish to highlight.
- The first cell should remain highlighted.
- With the cell cursor on the next cell to be highlighted, repeat steps 2 and 3 above.
- Continue to add cells to the highlighted range by using the F8 and Shift + F8 keys to start and stop extended mode.
Selecting Adjacent and Non-Adjacent Cells in Excel Using the Keyboard
Follow the steps below if the range you wish to select contains a mixture of adjacent and individual cells as shown in the image above.
- Move the cell cursor to the first cell in the group of cells you want to highlight.
- Press and release the F8 key on the keyboard to start Extended Mode.
- Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to extend the highlighted range to include all cells in the group.
- With all cells in the group selected, press and release the Shift + F8 keys on the keyboard together to shut off extended mode.
- Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the cell cursor away from the selected group of cells.
- The first group of cells should remain highlighted.
- If there are more grouped cells you wish to highlight, move to the first cell in the group and repeat steps 2 to 4 above.
- If there are individual cells that you wish to add to the highlighted range, use the first set of instructions above for highlighting single cells.
Other Shortcut Keys Tutorials
