Microsoft Office

Working with Cells and Ranges 5
Copying a cell normally copies the cell’s contents, any formatting that is applied to the original
cell (including conditional formatting and data validation), and the cell comment (if it has
one). When you copy a cell that contains a formula, the cell references in the copied formulas are changed
automatically to be relative to their new destination.
NOTE
Copying or moving consists of two steps (although shortcut methods do exist):
1. Select the cell or range to copy (the source range) and copy it to the Clipboard. To move the
range instead of copying it, cut the range rather than copying it.
2. Move the cell pointer to the range that will hold the copy (the destination range) and paste
the Clipboard contents.
When you paste information, Excel overwrites any cells that get in the way without warning
you. If you find that pasting overwrote some essential cells, choose Undo from the Quick
Access Toolbar (or press Ctrl+Z).
CAUTION
When you copy a cell or range, Excel surrounds the copied area with an animated border
(sometimes referred to as “marching ants”). As long as that border remains animated, the
copied information is available for pasting. If you press Esc to cancel the animated border, Excel removes the
information from the Clipboard.
NOTE
Because copying (or moving) is used so often, Excel provides many different methods. I discuss each
method in the following sections. Copying and moving are similar operations, so I point out only important
differences between the two.
Copying by using Ribbon commands
Choosing Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Copy transfers a copy of the selected cell or range to the Windows
Clipboard and the Office Clipboard. After performing the copy part of this operation, select the cell that will
hold the copy and choose Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste.
Rather than using Home ➪ Clipboard ➪ Paste, you can just activate the destination cell and press Enter. If
you use this technique, Excel removes the copied information from the Clipboard so that it can’t be pasted
again.
If you click the Copy button more than once before you click the Paste button, Excel may
automatically display the Office Clipboard task bar. To prevent this task bar from appearing,
click the Options button at the bottom and then remove the check mark from Show Office Clipboard
Automatically.
NOTE
If you’re copying a range, you don’t need to select an entire same-sized range before you click the Paste button.
You need only activate the upper-left cell in the destination range.
Copying by using shortcut menu commands
If you prefer, you can use the following shortcut menu commands for copying and pasting:
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Right-click the range and choose Copy (or Cut) from the shortcut menu to copy the selected cells
to the Clipboard.
Right-click and choose Paste from the shortcut menu that appears to paste the Clipboard contents
to the selected cell or range.
Rather than using Paste, you can just activate the destination cell and press Enter. If you use this technique,
Excel removes the copied information from the Clipboard so that it can’t be pasted again.
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