11 Shortcuts to know while copying the data in Excel:

Excel is one of the most used applications daily. When it comes to copying the data in Excel, there are so many ways to do it and most of the users don’t know how many possibilities are there.

Check these tips and shortcuts which will not only save you time but also help you to complete the task fast and efficiently.

Copy using CTRL + C:

1. Simply open the Excel worksheet and select the cells or data you want to copy. You can click and drag the mouse to select a range of cells or use keyboard arrow keys to navigate and select the cells.
2. Once the desired cells are selected, press and Hold the CTRL key on the keyboard and while holding the CTRL key now press the ‘C’ key.
3. Now the selected cells or data are copied to the clipboard.
4. Now you can paste the copied data where ever required using CTRL + V shortcut.

Copy Using Drag and Drop:

1. Select the cells you want to copy.
2. Hover the mouse to the lower-right corner until the pointer turns into a cross-hair cursor.
3. Now click and hold the mouse left button and drag the selection to the desired location where you want to copy the content.

Excel will copy the selected data to the destination cells you dragged it. Once you selected the cells, you can drag the pointer left, right, up and down to copy the selected cell.

If you want to move the selected cells instead of copying, after selecting the cells hover the mouse to the left or right corner anywhere on the selected cells and wait till the pointer turns into a 4-headed arrow. Once the pointer turns into a 4-headed arrow, drag the selection to the desired location where you want to move the content.

Copy Using Double-Click:

In Excel, you can use double-click to copy the cell’s content to the below cells. This will be helpful when you want to copy the formula or the same value to the range of cells. This is how you can do it.

1. Select the cells you want to copy.
2. Hover the mouse to the lower-right corner and wait until the pointer turns into a cross-hair cursor (plus sign).
3. When the pointer turns into a plus sign, just double-click on the mouse. Now the selected cell contents will be copied to the down blank cells as long as you have data on the left or right cells.

If any non-blank cells exist in between, Excel will stop copying at the first non-blank cell.

Copy From the Above Cell:

1. Go to the cell where you have the data.
2. Go down to the below cell and press CTRL + ‘ (Apostrophe) to copy the content from the above cell.

Using the CTRL + ‘ (Apostrophe), the content or formula in the above cell will be copied without changing the cell reference in the formula.

Copy The Formula from The Above Cell:

1. Go to the cell where you have the data.
2. Go down to the below cell and press CTRL + D to copy the content from the above cell.

Using the CTRL + D, the formula in the above cell will be copied and the cell reference will also be adjusted.

You can also use a fill handle to copy the formula to the below cells.

Copy Only Value from the Above Cell:

1. Go to the cell where you have the data.
2. Go down to the below cell and press CTRL + Shift + ‘ (Apostrophe) to copy the content from the above cell.

Using the CTRL + Shift + ‘ (Apostrophe), the formula will not be copied only the content in the above cell will be copied to the below cell.

Copy From Left to The Right Cell:

In Excel, the CTRL + R shortcut will be used to copy the leftmost cell content or formula to the right cell. Here’s you can do it.

1. Select the cell where you have the data or formula.
2. Move the cursor to the right side of the selected cell where you want to copy the data.
3. Press CTRL + R.

Now the content or formula from the leftmost cell will be copied to the right cell and the cell reference will also be adjusted.

This shortcut will be helpful when you quickly want to extend the content or formula to the right cell without the need of using manual copy and paste.

Copy The Cell Formatting:

1. Select the cells you want to copy.
2. Hover the mouse to the lower-right corner until the pointer turns into a cross-hair cursor.
3. Now click and hold the mouse left button and drag the selection up, down, left or right to the desired location where you want to copy the cell formatting and release the mouse once you reached the desired location.
4. Now click on the Auto–Fill options to open the menu and select Fill Formatting Only option. This will not copy the content from the above selection but only copy the cell formatting.

The fill handle will be helpful if you want to copy the cell formatting to up, down, left or right cells only.

You can use the format-painter tool to copy the formatting of the cell anywhere in the worksheet or workbook.

1. Select the cell or range of cells you want to copy the formatting.
2. Go to the Home tab in the ribbon and click on the Format-Painter tool in the Clipboard Group.
3. Now the cursor will change to a paintbrush icon.
4. Click on the cell or range of cells where you want to apply the formatting. Now the formatting will be applied to the selected cells.

By using the format painter option, you can easily copy the formatting of a cell to other cells without the need to manually apply the same formatting.

Copy and Paste Only Formula Results:

To copy and paste only formula results, you can use the Paste Special option in Excel. Here’s how you can do it.

1. Select the cells which contain the formula results you want to copy.
2. Press CTRL + C to copy.
3. Now go to the desired location where you want to paste the formula results and right-click on the mouse to open the Contest Menu Options and select Paste Special.
4.  In the Paste Special dialog box select “Values” or “Values and Number Formats” depending on whether you want to paste only values or values with number formatting.
5. Click OK.

Now the calculated results of the formulas will be pasted as values in the destination cells. This means the formulas will no longer be copied to the destination cells only the results will be present.

Copy Only Visible Cells and Avoid Hidden Cells:

To copy only visible cells and avoid copying hidden cells in Excel, you can use the “Go To Special” feature.

1. Select the cells you want to copy.
2. Press CTRL + G and click on special to open the Go to Special dialog box or you can go to the Home tab in the ribbon and click on Find & Select drop-down box under Editing group and click on the Go to Special option.
3. In the Go to Special window, click on Visible Cells Only option and click OK.
4. Now in the selected range, visible cells will be highlighted. Copy the cells using CTRL + C keyboard shortcut and paste them where ever you want using CTRL + V.

Copy the Entire Sheet:

Whenever you want to create a duplicate copy of the Excel worksheet, this shortcut will be helpful to you.

You can use right-click on the worksheet and use the Move or copy option to copy the worksheet but using this shortcut you can save some time. Here’s how you can do it.

1. Click on the worksheet tab and activate the worksheet.
2. Press and Hold the CTRL key on the keyboard.
3. While holding the CTRL key, left-click on the mouse tab and once the pointer turns to the + symbol drag the cursor to left or right.
4.  Now the worksheet will be copied to the dragged location.

Using the above tips and shortcuts will save you a lot of time. Don’t forget to use these tips next time while working in Excel.