Paste Shortcut in Excel (Table of Contents)
Paste Shortcut Option in Excel
It is one of the most commonly used tasks in excel, i.e. Copying & pasting data in Excel which is a very easy procedure with the shortcut key. Shortcut to copy a cell is Ctrl+C and to paste is Ctrl+V.
In the HOME menu toolbar of excel, you can see the Clipboard group of commands which contains copy & paste options. Again, under the paste options, you can observe various types of paste parameters.
You can paste any type of data, Data may be numbers or texts or special characters. In Excel, you have an excel paste special option of pasting only a certain attribute such as value, format, formula & comment. The attribute of a cell is the formatting, which can be decimal places or preceding dollar signs and in applying cell styles. Format means, it can be background color, font color, borders.
When you copy a data from one cell and try to paste in another cell, various paste options appear under paste special if you select it. Paste Special offers you a wide range of options, Paste Special is the gateway for many powerful operations, which includes paste values, which is most commonly used on a daily basis. Once you copy a data, and if you press ALT + E + S, various paste special option appears.
You can use below-mentioned paste shortcut keys when you copy a data from clipboard or cell along with ALT +H +V + below mentioned key from A to X for various paste options.
When you press Alt + H + V, various paste options appear as shown below.
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Definition of Paste Shortcut Option in Excel
It is a paste tool which offers a wide range of options to paste only specific elements of the copied cells.
How to Use Various Paste Shortcut Options In Excel
Let’s check out the important paste options in excel through the given examples.
Examples of Paste Shortcut Option in Excel
Example #1
How to Paste Values only or How to replace the formulas with calculated values by paste option.
Here, with this option, I can copy formula-driven data and paste only the calculated values in the same or different cells, procedure to be followed is shown below.
In the above example, I have a summary report of quarterly sales data, multiple subtotal functions are applied.
In cell, D18, D19 & D20, SUBTOTAL function is applied
When you click on cell D18, D19 & D20, you can observe the formula used in the formula bar, i.e. D18 cell contains subtotal function, here I don’t want this to appear, I want the calculated value to appear instead of subtotal function.
And this table containing SUBTOTAL function data, cannot be sent to the client as it is (Formula containing in D18, D19 & D20)
Now for these cells, I have to replace these SUBTOTAL function or formulas to calculated values, with paste special option.
Following steps are shown to replace these formulas to calculated values (paste values Only)
Select the cell containing SUBTOTAL formulas i.e. D18, D19 & D20 and press Ctrl + C to copy them.
Select the destination cell range where you need to copy this entire tabular data.
Now I have two options.
1) Suppose, If I don’t want to keep the formulas, I can select the same data range that I just copied (cells with formulas) and apply paste values in that cell range only
or
2) Select other range, where I can copy it and apply paste values.
I will go with the second option, where I will copy the entire table and paste in cell H7.
Now copy the cells containing only formulas i.e. J18, J19 & J20
Now I need to replace these formulas with calculated values by paste option
You can do it in two ways i.e.
1) Press Ctrl + C to copy & ALT + H + V + V to paste values
Or
2) Once you copied a cell containing formula, press Alt + H + V, below shown various paste options will appear, in the paste dropdown of the clipboard. In that select V
Now, you can observe the formulas in the cells J18, J19 & J20, replaced with calculated values
Example #2
How to Paste cell comments only from a text cell containing comments
In the below-mentioned example, I have an employee rating column containing grades along with comments associated with cells. Suppose I want to copy only cell comments ignoring the cell values to another cell or the same cell.
Now I need to replace cell M9 containing text with the comment to comments only ignoring text in another cell (“09” Cell) by paste option.
You can do it in two ways i.e.
1) Press Ctrl + C to copy & ALT + H + V + S + C & Enter key to paste comments only (Paste comments only shortcut key for a formula data)
Or
2) Once you copied a cell containing the formula, press Alt + E + S, paste special dialog box option appears, in that select comments & press enter key.
Now, you can observe the comment only in the cell “O9”
Things to Remember about Paste Shortcut Option in Excel
- Sometimes, the Paste Special is not seen in the home tab or it will not work. It may be either due to any third-party add-ins interfere with paste special or it is disabled.
- You can enable it by selecting excel option, and check all the boxes of cut, copy & paste in advance options.
You can download this Paste Shortcut Option Excel Template here –Paste Shortcut Option Excel Template
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