Microsoft Excel Selection Techniques

In this article, we will examine some of the more useful Excel selection techniques; namely those which involve using the mouse in conjunction with the keyboard. One of the most useful is click then Shift-click. This is particularly handy for selecting a large range of data since it allows you to simply click on two opposite corners of the rectangular range of cells which you want to highlight. To perform this technique, begin by clicking in the top left cell of the range you want to highlight. Next, scroll to reveal the bottom right cell of the range to be highlighted. Finally, holding down the Shift key, click on the bottom right cell. All the cells between the two cells that you have just clicked on will now be highlighted.

The other main modifier key which can be used in conjunction with the mouse to make selections is Control. Whereas the mouse and Shift key combination only permits us to make rectangular selections, if we use the mouse in conjunction with the Control key, we can make non-contiguous selections; in other words, we can highlight cells which are not adjacent to each other. Once you have highlighted a region, the next operation you perform will only apply to the highlighted cells. For example, you might want to copy the cells and paste them into a new worksheet.

A less commonly-used technique is to double-click one of the edges of the bold rectangle which surrounds the currently selected area while holding down the Shift key. You may have notice that Excel always displays a bold border around the highlighted cells. By holding down the Shift key and double-clicking on the right-hand edge of this border, you can select all the cells up to the right-hand edge of the current range. The first column that contains blank cells will act as a boundary and Excel will only select up to that boundary. Naturally, you can also extend your selection by holding down the Shift key and double-clicking on any of the other borders as well.

It is also possible to highlight cells using the keyboard alone. However, only a contiguous range of cells can be selected in this way. To perform this technique, hold down the Shift key and press one of the cursor keys. For example, select to the right, press the right cursor key; to select adjacent rows, press the down cursor key; and so forth. You can also press the left and up cursor keys to remove cells from the selection.

To highlight all the cells up to the edge of a range, hold down the Control and Shift keys while pressing one of the cursor keys. For example, to select all the cells up to the right edge, press the right cursor key; to select all the cells to the bottom, press the down arrow; and so forth.

As well as pressing the cursor keys, you can use the End key. Hold down Control and Shift and press the End key to select all the cells to the bottom right of the current range.

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