Move or copy cells and cell contents

You can use the Cut, Copy, and Paste commands in Microsoft Office Excel to move or copy entire cells or their contents. You can also copy specific contents or attributes from the cells. For example, you can copy the resulting value of a formula without copying the formula itself, or you can copy only the formula.

This article does not describe how to move or copy a worksheet to another location within a workbook or to another workbook. Find links to more information about moving and copying worksheets in the See Also section.

 Note    Excel displays an animated moving border around cells that have been cut or copied. To cancel a moving border, press ESC.

What do you want to do?

Move or copy entire cells

Move or copy entire cells by using the mouse

Insert moved or copied cells between existing cells

Copy visible cells only

Prevent copied blank cells from replacing data

Move or copy the contents of a cell

Copy cell values, cell formats, or formulas only

Copy cell width settings

Move or copy entire cells

When you move or copy a cell, Excel moves or copies the entire cell, including formulas and their resulting values, cell formats, and comments.

1. Select the cells that you want to move or copy.

How to select cells or ranges

2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, do one of the following:

• To move cells, click Cut .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+X.

• To copy cells, click Copy .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+C.

3. Select the upper-left cell of the paste area.

Tip  To move or copy a selection to a different worksheet or workbook, click another worksheet tab or switch to another workbook, and then select the upper-left cell of the paste area.

4. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+V.

 Notes 

• To choose specific options when you paste cells, you can click the arrow below Paste , and then click the option that you want. For example, you can click Paste Special or Paste As Picture.
• By default, Excel displays the Paste Options button on the worksheet to provide you with special options when you paste cells, such as Keep Source Formatting and Match Destination Formatting. If you don't want to display this button every time that you paste cells, you can turn this option off. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Excel Options. In the Advanced category, under Cut, Copy, and Paste, clear the Show Paste Options buttons check box.
• Excel replaces existing data in the paste area when you cut and paste cells to move them.
• When you copy cells, cell references are automatically adjusted. When you move cells, however, cell references are not adjusted, and the contents of those cells and of any cells that point to them may be displayed as reference errors. In this case, you will need to adjust the references manually.
• If the selected copy area includes hidden cells, Excel also copies the hidden cells. You may need to temporarily unhide cells that you don't want to include when you copy information.

If the paste area contains hidden rows or columns, you might need to unhide the paste area to see all of the copied cells.

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Move or copy entire cells by using the mouse

By default, drag-and-drop editing is turned on so that you can use the mouse to move and copy cells.

1. Select the cells or range (range: Two or more cells on a sheet. The cells in a range can be adjacent or nonadjacent.) of cells that you want to move or copy.

How to select cells or ranges

2. Do one of the following:
   • To move a cell or range of cells, point to the border of the selection. When the pointer becomes a move pointer , drag the cell or range of cells to another location.
   • To copy a cell or range of cells, hold down CTRL while you point to the border of the selection. When the pointer becomes a copy pointer , drag the cell or range of cells to another location.

 Notes 

• Excel replaces existing data in the paste area when you move cells.
• When you copy cells, cell references are automatically adjusted. When you move cells, however, cell references are not adjusted, and the contents of those cells and of any cells that point to them may be displayed as reference errors. In this case, you will need to adjust the references manually.
• If the selected copy area includes hidden cells, Excel also copies the hidden cells. You may need to temporarily unhide cells that you don't want to include when you copy information.

If the paste area contains hidden rows or columns, you might need to unhide the paste area to see all of the copied cells.

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Insert moved or copied cells between existing cells

1. Select the cell or range (range: Two or more cells on a sheet. The cells in a range can be adjacent or nonadjacent.) of cells that contains the data that you want to move or copy.

How to select cells or ranges

2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, do one of the following:

• To move the selection, click Cut .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+X.

• To copy the selection, click Copy .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+C.

3. Right-click the upper-left cell of the paste area, and then click Insert Cut Cells or Insert Copied Cells on the shortcut menu.

Tip  To move or copy a selection to a different worksheet or workbook, click another worksheet tab or switch to another workbook, and then select the upper-left cell of the paste area.

4. In the Insert Paste dialog box, click the direction in which you want to shift the surrounding cells.

 Note    If you insert entire rows or columns, the surrounding rows and columns are shifted down and to the left.

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Copy visible cells only

If some cells, rows, or columns on your worksheet are not displayed, you have the option of copying all cells or only the visible cells. For example, you can choose to copy only the displayed summary data on an outlined (outline: Worksheet data in which rows or columns of detail data are grouped so that you can create summary reports. The outline can summarize either an entire worksheet or a selected portion of it.) worksheet.

1. Select the cells that you want to copy.

How to select cells or ranges

2. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click Find & Select, and then click Go To.

3. In the Go To dialog box, click Special.
4. Under Select, click Visible cells only, and then click OK.
5. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+C.

6. Select the upper-left cell of the paste area.

Tip  To move or copy a selection to a different worksheet or workbook, click another worksheet tab or switch to another workbook, and then select the upper-left cell of the paste area.

7. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+V.

 Notes 

• Excel pastes the copied data into consecutive rows or columns. If the paste area contains hidden rows or columns, you might need to unhide the paste area to see all of the copied cells.
• If you click the arrow below Paste , you can choose from several paste options to apply to your selection.
• When you copy or paste hidden or filtered (filter: To display only the rows in a list that satisfy the conditions you specify. You use the AutoFilter command to display rows that match one or more specific values, calculated values, or conditions.) data to another application or another instance of Excel, only visible cells are copied.

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Prevent copied blank cells from replacing data

1. Select the range (range: Two or more cells on a sheet. The cells in a range can be adjacent or nonadjacent.) of cells that contains blank cells.

How to select cells or ranges

2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+C.

3. Select the upper-left cell of the paste area.
4. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the arrow below Paste , and then click Paste Special.
5. Select the Skip blanks check box.

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Move or copy the contents of a cell

1. Double-click the cell that contains the data that you want to move or copy.

 Note    By default, you can edit and select cell data directly in the cell by double-clicking it, but you can also edit and select cell data in the formula bar (formula bar: A bar at the top of the Excel window that you use to enter or edit values or formulas in cells or charts. Displays the constant value or formula stored in the active cell.).

2. In the cell, select the characters that you want to move or copy.

How to select characters in a cell

3. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, do one of the following:

• To move the selection, click Cut .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+X.

• To copy the selection, click Copy .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+C.

4. In the cell, click where you want to paste the characters, or double-click another cell to move or copy the data.
5. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+V.

6. Press ENTER.

 Note    When you double-click a cell or press F2 to edit the active cell, the arrow keys work only within that cell. To use the arrow keys to move to another cell, first press ENTER to complete your editing changes to the active cell.

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Copy cell values, cell formats, or formulas only

When you paste copied data, you can do any of the following:

• Convert any formulas in the cell to the calculated values without overwriting the existing formatting.
• Paste only the cell formatting, such as font color or fill color (and not the contents of the cells).
• Paste only the formulas (and not the calculated values).

1. Select the cell or range of cells that contains the values, cell formats, or formulas that you want to copy.

How to select cells or ranges

2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+C.

3. Select the upper-left cell of the paste area or the cell where you want to paste the value, cell format, or formula.
4. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the arrow below Paste , and then do one of the following:
   • To paste values only, click Paste Values.
   • To paste cell formats only, click Paste Special, and then click Formats under Paste.
   • To paste formulas only, click Formulas.

 Note    If the copied formulas contain relative cell references, Excel adjusts the references (and the relative parts of mixed cell references) in the duplicate formulas. For example, suppose that cell B8 contains the formula =SUM(B1:B7). If you copy the formula to cell C8, the duplicate formula refers to the corresponding cells in that column: =SUM(C1:C7). If the copied formulas contain absolute cell references (absolute cell reference: In a formula, the exact address of a cell, regardless of the position of the cell that contains the formula. An absolute cell reference takes the form $A$1.), the references in the duplicate formulas are not changed. If you don't get the results that you want, you can also change the references in the original formulas to either relative or absolute cell references and then recopy the cells.

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Copy cell width settings

When you paste copied data, the pasted data uses the column width settings of the target cells. To correct the column widths so that they match the source cells, use the following procedure.

1. Select the cells that you want to move or copy.

How to select cells or ranges

2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, do one of the following:

• To move cells, click Cut .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+X.

• To copy cells, click Copy .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+C.

3. Select the upper-left cell of the paste area.

Tip  To move or copy a selection to a different worksheet or workbook, click another worksheet tab or switch to another workbook, and then select the upper-left cell of the paste area.

4. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+V.

5. With the pasted data still selected, on the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the arrow below Paste , and then click Paste Special.
6. In the Paste Special dialog box, click Column widths, and then click OK.

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See Also

• Fill data automatically in worksheet cells
• Hide or display the Paste Options button
• Move or copy a worksheet
• Move or copy rows and columns

Excel > Worksheet and Excel table basics > Managing worksheets

Move or copy a worksheet

You can move or copy a whole worksheet (worksheet: The primary document that you use in Excel to store and work with data. Also called a spreadsheet. A worksheet consists of cells that are organized into columns and rows; a worksheet is always stored in a workbook.) (or sheet) to another location in a workbook or to another workbook if that workbook is open in the same instance of Excel. However, be careful when you move or copy a worksheet. Calculations or charts that are based on worksheet data might become inaccurate if you move the worksheet. Similarly, if a moved or copied worksheet is inserted between sheets that are referred to by a 3-D formula reference (3-D reference: A reference to a range that spans two or more worksheets in a workbook.), data on that worksheet might be unexpectedly included in the calculation.

You can also use the Cut or Copy commands to move or copy all or part of the data in a worksheet to another worksheet in the same workbook or another workbook. You can also drag worksheet data between workbook windows or workbooks that are open in separate instances of Excel.

What do you want to do?

Move or copy worksheets to another location in a workbook

Move or copy worksheets to another workbook

Move or copy all or part of the worksheet data to another worksheet or workbook

Drag worksheet data between open workbook windows in Excel

Drag worksheet data to another workbook that is open in a separate instance of Excel

Move or copy worksheets to another location in a workbook

1. Select the worksheets that you want to move or copy.

How to select worksheets

Keyboard shortcut  To move to the next or previous sheet tab, you can also press CTRL+PAGE UP or CTRL+PAGE DOWN.

2. In the Move or Copy dialog box, in the Before sheet list, do one of the following:
   • Click the sheet before which you want to insert the moved or copied sheets.
   • Click move to end to insert the moved or copied sheets after the last sheet in the workbook and before the Insert Worksheet tab.

3. To copy the sheets instead of moving them, in the Move or Copy dialog box, select the Create a copy check box.

 Note    When you create a copy of the worksheet, the worksheet is duplicated in the workbook, and the sheet name indicates that it is a copy — for example, the first copy that you make of Sheet1 is named Sheet1 (2).

Tips

• To move sheets in the current workbook, you can drag the selected sheets along the row of sheet tabs. To copy the sheets, hold down CTRL, and then drag the sheets; release the mouse button before you release the CTRL key.
• To rename the moved or copied worksheet, right-click its sheet tab, click Rename, and then type the new name in the sheet tab.
• To change the color of the sheet tab, right-click the sheet tab, click Tab Color, and then click the color that you want to use.

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Move or copy worksheets to another workbook

1. To move or copy worksheets to another workbook, make sure that the target workbook is open in the same instance of Microsoft Office Excel.

 Note    You cannot move or copy worksheets between workbooks that are open in separate instances of Excel. If a workbook is opened in a separate instance of Excel — for example, this can happen when you open that workbook from a Windows SharePoint Services site — make sure that you open that workbook in the same instance of Excel instead by browsing to it in the Open dialog box (Microsoft Office Button , Open).

2. In the workbook that contains the sheets that you want to move or copy, select the sheets.

How to select worksheets

Keyboard shortcut  To move to the next or previous sheet tab, you can also press CTRL+PAGE UP or CTRL+PAGE DOWN.

3. On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click Format, and then under Organize Sheets, click Move or Copy Sheet.

Tip  You can also right-click a selected sheet tab, and then click Move or Copy.

4. In the Move or Copy dialog box, in the To book list, do one of the following:
   • Click the workbook to which you want to move or copy the selected sheets.
   • Click new book to move or copy the selected sheets to a new workbook.
5. In the Before sheet list, do one of the following:
   • Click the sheet before which you want to insert the moved or copied sheets.
   • Click move to end to insert the moved or copied sheets after the last sheet in the workbook and before the Insert Worksheet tab.

6. To copy the sheets instead of moving them, in the Move or Copy dialog box, select the Create a copy check box.

 Note    When you create a copy of the worksheet, the worksheet is duplicated in the destination workbook. When you move a worksheet, the worksheet is removed from the original workbook and appears in the destination workbook only.

Tips

• To rename the moved or copied worksheet in the destination workbook, right-click its sheet tab, click Rename, and then type the new name in the sheet tab.
• Worksheets that you move or copy to another workbook will use the theme fonts, colors, and effects that are applied to the destination workbook.
• To change the color of the sheet tab, right-click the sheet tab, click Tab Color, and then click the color that you want to use.

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Move or copy all or part of the worksheet data to another worksheet or workbook

Although moving or copying the actual worksheet is a fast and effective way to transfer data to another location, you can also move or copy all or part of the data in a worksheet to another worksheet. This method can be used to transfer data to a worksheet in a workbook that is open in a separate instance of Excel.

1. In a worksheet, select the data that you want to move or copy.

 Note    If the selection includes hidden rows or columns, Excel also copies the data in those hidden rows and columns. You may have to temporarily unhide rows or columns that you do not want to include, and then select each range of data that you do want to move or copy in separate operations. For information, see Hide or display rows and columns.

2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, do one of the following:

• To move the selected data, click Cut .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+X.

• To copy the selected data, click Copy .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+C.

3. Do one of the following:
   • Click the worksheet where you want to paste the data.
   • Switch to a workbook that is opened in another instance of Excel, and then click the worksheet where you want to paste the data.
4. Select the upper-left cell of the paste area (paste area: The target destination for data that's been cut or copied by using the Office Clipboard.).

 Note    Data in the paste area will be overwritten. Also, if the paste area contains hidden rows or columns, you might have to unhide the paste area to see all the copied cells.

5. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+V.

Tip  To keep the column width that was originally specified for the data, click the arrow below Paste , click Paste Special, and then under Paste, click Column widths.

 Notes 

• By default, Excel displays the Paste Options button on the worksheet to provide you with special options when you paste cells, such as Keep Source Formatting and Match Destination Formatting. If you do not want Excel to display this button every time that you paste cells, you can turn this option off.
  1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Excel Options.
  2. In the Advanced category, under Cut, Copy, and Paste, clear the Show Paste Options buttons check box.
• When you copy cells, cell references (cell reference: The set of coordinates that a cell occupies on a worksheet. For example, the reference of the cell that appears at the intersection of column B and row 3 is B3.) are automatically adjusted. However, when you move cells, cell references are not adjusted, and the contents of those cells and of any cells that point to them might be displayed as reference errors. In this case, you will have to adjust the references manually.

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Drag worksheet data between open workbook windows in Excel

If you open more than one workbook in the same instance of Excel, you can drag worksheet data between the workbook windows.

1. In Excel, open the workbooks between which you want to transfer worksheet data.
2. On the View tab, in the Window group, click Arrange All.

3. In the Arrange Windows dialog box, under Arrange, click the options that you want, and then click OK.
4. In one of the windows, select the data that you want to move or copy to another window.
5. Do one of the following:
   • To move the selected data, point to the border of the selection. When the pointer becomes a move pointer , drag the selected data to another window.
   • To copy the selected data, hold down CTRL while you point to the border of the selection. When the pointer becomes a copy pointer , drag the selected data to another window.

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Drag worksheet data to another workbook that is open in a separate instance of Excel

If a workbook is open in another instance of Excel, you can drag worksheet data to it if it is visible on the taskbar.

1. Start an instance of Excel, and then open the workbook into which you want to drag worksheet data, or create a new workbook.
2. In another instance of Excel, open the workbook that contains the worksheet data that you want to transfer by dragging.
3. In a worksheet, select the data that you want to drag to a workbook that is visible on the taskbar.
4. Do one of the following:
   • To move the selected data, point to the border of the selection. When the pointer becomes a move pointer , drag the selected data to the workbook on the taskbar.
   • To copy the selected data, hold down CTRL while you point to the border of the selection. When the pointer becomes a copy pointer , drag the selected data to the workbook on the taskbar.

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Related Office Online discussions

Read related questions and answers from other Microsoft Office customers.

• Moving a sheet from one Excel file to another?
• How do I copy a worksheet for each day of the year?
• How do you copy and rename linked worksheets?
• Move a sheet out of my workbook and place in another folder?
• Copying to multiple pages and keeping columns sized correctly???
• How do I copy or move a worksheet to another workbook?

See Also

• Consolidate data in multiple worksheets
• Control when external references (links) are updated
• Create an external reference (link) to a cell range in another workbook
• Hide or display worksheets or workbooks
• Insert or delete a worksheet
• Merge copies of a shared workbook
• Select one or multiple worksheets

Excel > Worksheet and Excel table basics > Copying and moving

Move or copy rows and columns

When you move or copy rows and columns, Microsoft Office Excel moves or copies all data that they contain, including formulas and their resulting values, comments, cell formats, and hidden cells.

You can use the Cut command or Copy command to move or copy selected rows and columns, but you can also move or copy them by using the mouse.

What do you want to do?

Move or copy rows and columns

Move or copy rows and columns by using the mouse

Move or copy rows and columns

1. Select the row or column that you want to move or copy.

How to select cells, ranges, rows, or columns

2. Do one of the following:
   • To move rows or columns, on the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Cut .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+X.

• To copy rows or columns, on the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+C.

3. Right-click a row or column below or to the right of where you want to move or copy your selection, and then do one of the following:
   • When you are moving rows or columns, click Insert Cut Cells.
   • When you are copying rows or columns, click Insert Copied Cells.

 Note    If you click Paste on the Home tab, in the Clipboard group (or press CTRL+V) instead of clicking a command on the shortcut menu, you will replace the existing content of the destination cells.

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Move or copy rows and columns by using the mouse

1. Select the row or column that you want to move or copy.

How to select cells, ranges, rows, or columns

2. Do one of the following:
   • To move rows or columns, point to the border of the selection. When the pointer becomes a move pointer , drag the rows or columns to another location.
   • To copy rows or columns, hold down CTRL while you point to the border of the selection. When the pointer becomes a copy pointer , drag the rows or columns to another location.

Important  Make sure that you hold down CTRL during the drag-and-drop operation. If you release CTRL before you release the mouse button, you will move the rows or columns instead of copying them.

 Notes 

• When you use the mouse to insert copied or cut columns or rows, the existing content of the destination cells is replaced. To insert copied or cut rows and columns without replacing the existing content, you should right-click the row or column below or to the right of where you want to move or copy your selection, and then click Insert Cut Cells or Insert Copied Cells.
• You cannot move or copy nonadjacent rows and columns by using the mouse.

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See Also

• Copy visible cells only
• Fill data automatically in worksheet cells
• Hide or display the Paste Options button
• Insert or delete cells, rows, and columns
• Move or copy a worksheet
• Move or copy cells and cell contents
• Rearrange (transpose) data from columns to rows or vice versa

Excel > Worksheet and Excel table basics > Copying and moving

Copy and paste multiple items by using the Office Clipboard

The Microsoft Office Clipboard allows you to copy multiple text and graphical items from Office documents or other programs and paste them into another Office document. For example, you can copy text from an e-mail message, data from a workbook or datasheet, and a graphic from a presentation and then paste them all into a document. By using the Office Clipboard, you can arrange the copied items the way that you want in the document.

What do you want to do?

Learn more about how the Office Clipboard works

Turn on the Office Clipboard

Control how the Office Clipboard is displayed

Turn off the Office Clipboard

Copy multiple items to the Office Clipboard

Paste items

Delete items from the Office Clipboard

Learn more about how the Office Clipboard works

The Office Clipboard works with the standard Copy and Paste commands. Just copy an item to the Office Clipboard to add it to your collection, and then paste it from the Office Clipboard into any Office document at any time. The collected items stay on the Office Clipboard until you exit all Office programs or you delete the items from the Clipboard task pane.

After you exit all Office programs, only the last item that you copied stays on the Office Clipboard. When you exit all Office programs and restart your computer, the Office Clipboard is cleared of all items.

The Office Clipboard and the system Clipboard

The Office Clipboard is related to the system Clipboard in Microsoft Windows in the following ways:

• When you copy multiple items to the Office Clipboard, the last item that you copy is always copied to the system Clipboard.
• When you clear the Office Clipboard, the system Clipboard is also cleared.
• When you use the Paste command, the Paste button, or the keyboard shortcut CTRL+V, you paste the contents of the system Clipboard, not the Office Clipboard.

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Turn on the Office Clipboard

Which 2007 Microsoft Office system program are you using?

Access

Excel

Outlook

PowerPoint

Publisher

SharePoint Designer

Word

Access

• On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the Clipboard Dialog Box Launcher.

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Excel

• On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the Clipboard Dialog Box Launcher.

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Outlook

• In an open message, on the Message tab, in the Clipboard group, click the Clipboard Dialog Box Launcher.

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PowerPoint

• On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the Clipboard Dialog Box Launcher.

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Publisher

• On the Edit menu, click Office Clipboard.

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SharePoint Designer

• On the Edit menu, click Office Clipboard.

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Word

• On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the Clipboard Dialog Box Launcher.

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Control how the Office Clipboard is displayed

You can use the following options to control how the Office Clipboard is displayed.

1. In the Clipboard task pane, click Options.

2. Click the options that you want.

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Turn off the Office Clipboard

Do any of the following:

• In the Clipboard task pane, click the Close button.

• In the Clipboard task pane, click the arrow, and then on the menu, click Close.

• Press F6 to give the Clipboard task pane the focus. Press CTRL+SPACEBAR, and then, using the DOWN ARROW key, scroll to Close and press ENTER.

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Copy multiple items to the Office Clipboard

Which 2007 Microsoft Office system program are you using?

Access

Excel

Outlook

PowerPoint

Publisher

SharePoint Designer

Word

Access

1. Open the file that you want to copy items from.
2. Select the first item that you want to copy.
3. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy.

Keyboard shortcut  To copy an item, press CTRL+C.

4. Continue copying items from the same or other files until you have collected all of the items that you want. The Office Clipboard can hold up to 24 items. If you copy a twenty-fifth item, the first item on the Office Clipboard is deleted.

If you open the Clipboard task pane in one Office program, the Clipboard task pane does not automatically appear when you switch to another Office program. However, you can continue to copy items from other programs. If the Show Status Near Taskbar When Copying option is selected (to verify, click Options in the Clipboard task pane), a message is displayed above the status area to indicate that an item has been added to the Office Clipboard.

As items are added to the Office Clipboard, an entry is displayed in the Clipboard task pane. The newest entry is always added to the top. Each entry includes an icon representing the source Office program and a portion of copied text or a thumbnail of a copied graphic.

 Notes 

• The Office Clipboard is not available in views where the Copy, Cut, and Paste commands are not available.
• Collected items remain on the Office Clipboard until you exit all Office programs that are running on your computer or click Clear All in the Clipboard task pane. For more information, see Delete items from the Office Clipboard.
• In some cases, such as Unicode (Unicode: A character encoding standard developed by the Unicode Consortium. By using more than one byte to represent each character, Unicode enables almost all of the written languages in the world to be represented by using a single character set.) text, the image displayed in the task pane looks slightly altered. This is because text is always displayed in the task pane by using the Tahoma font. However, the correct formatting and font information is restored when the item is pasted from the task pane.
• The Office Clipboard does not support copying Office Access objects, such as a form or report.

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Excel

1. Open the file that you want to copy items from.
2. Select the first item that you want to copy.
3. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy.

Keyboard shortcut  To copy an item, press CTRL+C.

4. Continue copying items from the same or other files until you have collected all of the items that you want. The Office Clipboard can hold up to 24 items. If you copy a twenty-fifth item, the first item on the Office Clipboard is deleted.

If you open the Clipboard task pane in one Office program, the Clipboard task pane does not automatically appear when you switch to another Office program. However, you can continue to copy items from other programs. If the Show Status Near Taskbar When Copying option is selected (to verify, click Options in the Clipboard task pane), a message is displayed above the status area to indicate that an item has been added to the Office Clipboard.

As items are added to the Office Clipboard, an entry is displayed in the Clipboard task pane. The newest entry is always added to the top. Each entry includes an icon representing the source Office program and a portion of copied text or a thumbnail of a copied graphic.

 Notes 

• The Office Clipboard is not available in views where the Copy, Cut, and Paste commands are not available.
• Collected items remain on the Office Clipboard until you exit all Office programs that are running on your computer or click Clear All in the Clipboard task pane. For more information, see Delete items from the Office Clipboard.
• In some cases, such as Unicode (Unicode: A character encoding standard developed by the Unicode Consortium. By using more than one byte to represent each character, Unicode enables almost all of the written languages in the world to be represented by using a single character set.) text, the image displayed in the task pane looks slightly altered. This is because text is always displayed in the task pane by using the Tahoma font. However, the correct formatting and font information is restored when the item is pasted from the task pane.

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Outlook

1. Open the file that you want to copy items from.
2. Select the first item that you want to copy.
3. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy.

Keyboard shortcut  To copy an item, press CTRL+C.

4. Continue copying items from the same or other files until you have collected all of the items that you want. The Office Clipboard can hold up to 24 items. If you copy a twenty-fifth item, the first item on the Office Clipboard is deleted.

If you open the Clipboard task pane in one Office program, the Clipboard task pane does not automatically appear when you switch to another Office program. However, you can continue to copy items from other programs. If the Show Status Near Taskbar When Copying option is selected (to verify, click Options in the Clipboard task pane), a message is displayed above the status area to indicate that an item has been added to the Office Clipboard.

As items are added to the Office Clipboard, an entry is displayed in the Clipboard task pane. The newest entry is always added to the top. Each entry includes an icon representing the source Office program and a portion of copied text or a thumbnail of a copied graphic.

 Notes 

• The Office Clipboard is not available in views where the Copy, Cut, and Paste commands are not available.
• Collected items remain on the Office Clipboard until you exit all Office programs that are running on your computer or click Clear All in the Clipboard task pane. For more information, see Delete items from the Office Clipboard.
• In some cases, such as Unicode (Unicode: A character encoding standard developed by the Unicode Consortium. By using more than one byte to represent each character, Unicode enables almost all of the written languages in the world to be represented by using a single character set.) text, the image displayed in the task pane looks slightly altered. This is because text is always displayed in the task pane by using the Tahoma font. However, the correct formatting and font information is restored when the item is pasted from the task pane.

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PowerPoint

1. Open the file that you want to copy items from.
2. Select the first item that you want to copy.
3. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy.

Keyboard shortcut  To copy an item, press CTRL+C.

4. Continue copying items from the same or other files until you have collected all of the items that you want. The Office Clipboard can hold up to 24 items. If you copy a twenty-fifth item, the first item on the Office Clipboard is deleted.

If you open the Clipboard task pane in one Office program, the Clipboard task pane does not automatically appear when you switch to another Office program. However, you can continue to copy items from other programs. If the Show Status Near Taskbar When Copying option is selected (to verify, click Options in the Clipboard task pane), a message is displayed above the status area to indicate that an item has been added to the Office Clipboard.

As items are added to the Office Clipboard, an entry is displayed in the Clipboard task pane. The newest entry is always added to the top. Each entry includes an icon representing the source Office program and a portion of copied text or a thumbnail of a copied graphic.

 Notes 

• The Office Clipboard is not available in views where the Copy, Cut, and Paste commands are not available.
• Collected items remain on the Office Clipboard until you exit all Office programs that are running on your computer or click Clear All in the Clipboard task pane. For more information, see Delete items from the Office Clipboard.
• In some cases, such as Unicode (Unicode: A character encoding standard developed by the Unicode Consortium. By using more than one byte to represent each character, Unicode enables almost all of the written languages in the world to be represented by using a single character set.) text, the image displayed in the task pane looks slightly altered. This is because text is always displayed in the task pane by using the Tahoma font. However, the correct formatting and font information is restored when the item is pasted from the task pane.

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Publisher

1. Open the file that you want to copy items from.
2. Select the first item that you want to copy.
3. On the Edit menu, click Copy.

Keyboard shortcut  To copy an item, press CTRL+C.

4. Continue copying items from the same or other files until you have collected all of the items that you want. The Office Clipboard can hold up to 24 items. If you copy a twenty-fifth item, the first item on the Office Clipboard is deleted.

If you open the Clipboard task pane in one Office program, the Clipboard task pane does not automatically appear when you switch to another Office program. However, you can continue to copy items from other programs. If the Show Status Near Taskbar When Copying option is selected (to verify, click Options in the Clipboard task pane), a message is displayed above the status area to indicate that an item has been added to the Office Clipboard.

As items are added to the Office Clipboard, an entry is displayed in the Clipboard task pane. The newest entry is always added to the top. Each entry includes an icon representing the source Office program and a portion of copied text or a thumbnail of a copied graphic.

 Notes 

• The Office Clipboard is not available in views where the Copy, Cut, and Paste commands are not available.
• Collected items remain on the Office Clipboard until you exit all Office programs that are running on your computer or click Clear All in the Clipboard task pane. For more information, see Delete items from the Office Clipboard.
• In some cases, such as Unicode (Unicode: A character encoding standard developed by the Unicode Consortium. By using more than one byte to represent each character, Unicode enables almost all of the written languages in the world to be represented by using a single character set.) text, the image displayed in the task pane looks slightly altered. This is because text is always displayed in the task pane by using the Tahoma font. However, the correct formatting and font information is restored when the item is pasted from the task pane.

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SharePoint Designer

1. Open the file that you want to copy items from.
2. Select the first item that you want to copy.
3. On the Edit menu, click Copy.

Keyboard shortcut  To copy an item, press CTRL+C.

4. Continue copying items from the same or other files until you have collected all of the items that you want. The Office Clipboard can hold up to 24 items. If you copy a twenty-fifth item, the first item on the Office Clipboard is deleted.

If you open the Clipboard task pane in one Office program, the Clipboard task pane does not automatically appear when you switch to another Office program. However, you can continue to copy items from other programs. If the Show Status Near Taskbar When Copying option is selected (to verify, click Options in the Clipboard task pane), a message is displayed above the status area to indicate that an item has been added to the Office Clipboard.

As items are added to the Office Clipboard, an entry is displayed in the Clipboard task pane. The newest entry is always added to the top. Each entry includes an icon representing the source Office program and a portion of copied text or a thumbnail of a copied graphic.

 Notes 

• The Office Clipboard is not available in views where the Copy, Cut, and Paste commands are not available.
• Collected items remain on the Office Clipboard until you exit all Office programs that are running on your computer or click Clear All in the Clipboard task pane. For more information, see Delete items from the Office Clipboard.
• In some cases, such as Unicode (Unicode: A character encoding standard developed by the Unicode Consortium. By using more than one byte to represent each character, Unicode enables almost all of the written languages in the world to be represented by using a single character set.) text, the image displayed in the task pane looks slightly altered. This is because text is always displayed in the task pane by using the Tahoma font. However, the correct formatting and font information is restored when the item is pasted from the task pane.

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Word

1. Open the file that you want to copy items from.
2. Select the first item that you want to copy.
3. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy.

Keyboard shortcut  To copy an item, press CTRL+C.

4. Continue copying items from the same or other files until you have collected all of the items that you want. The Office Clipboard can hold up to 24 items. If you copy a twenty-fifth item, the first item on the Office Clipboard is deleted.

If you open the Clipboard task pane in one Office program, the Clipboard task pane does not automatically appear when you switch to another Office program. However, you can continue to copy items from other programs. If the Show Status Near Taskbar When Copying option is selected (to verify, click Options in the Clipboard task pane), a message is displayed above the status area to indicate that an item has been added to the Office Clipboard.

As items are added to the Office Clipboard, an entry is displayed in the Clipboard task pane. The newest entry is always added to the top. Each entry includes an icon representing the source Office program and a portion of copied text or a thumbnail of a copied graphic.

 Notes 

• The Office Clipboard is not available in views where the Copy, Cut, and Paste commands are not available.
• Collected items remain on the Office Clipboard until you exit all Office programs that are running on your computer or click Clear All in the Clipboard task pane. For more information, see Delete items from the Office Clipboard.
• In some cases, such as Unicode (Unicode: A character encoding standard developed by the Unicode Consortium. By using more than one byte to represent each character, Unicode enables almost all of the written languages in the world to be represented by using a single character set.) text, the image displayed in the task pane looks slightly altered. This is because text is always displayed in the task pane by using the Tahoma font. However, the correct formatting and font information is restored when the item is pasted from the task pane.

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Paste items

You can paste items from the Office Clipboard individually or all at the same time.

1. Click where you want the items to be pasted. You can paste collected items into any Office program.
2. Do one of the following:
   • To paste items one at a time, in the Clipboard task pane, double-click each item that you want to paste.
   • To paste all the items that you copied, in the Clipboard task pane, click Paste All.

 Note    The Paste Special command is available from the Clipboard group but is not integrated into the Office Clipboard task pane functionality.

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Delete items from the Office Clipboard

You can delete items from the Office Clipboard individually or all at the same time.

In the Clipboard task pane, do one of the following:

• To clear one item, click the arrow next to the item that you want to delete, and then click Delete.

• To clear all items, click Clear All.

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Excel > Worksheet and Excel table basics > Copying and moving

Copy visible cells only

If some cells, rows, or columns on your worksheet are not displayed, you have the option of copying all cells or only the visible cells. By default, Excel copies hidden or filtered (filter: To display only the rows in a list that satisfy the conditions you specify. You use the AutoFilter command to display rows that match one or more specific values, calculated values, or conditions.) cells in addition to visible cells. If this is not what you want, follow the steps in this article to copy visible cells only. For example, you can choose to copy only the displayed summary data on an outlined (outline: Worksheet data in which rows or columns of detail data are grouped so that you can create summary reports. The outline can summarize either an entire worksheet or a selected portion of it.) worksheet.

1. Select the cells that you want to copy.

How to select cells or ranges

2. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click Find & Select, and then click Go To.

3. In the Go To dialog box, click Special.
4. Under Select, click Visible cells only, and then click OK.
5. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+C.

6. Select the upper-left cell of the paste area.

Tip  To move or copy a selection to a different worksheet or workbook, click another worksheet tab or switch to another workbook, and then select the upper-left cell of the paste area.

7. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+V.

 Notes 

• Excel pastes the copied data into consecutive rows or columns. If the paste area contains hidden rows or columns, you might need to unhide the paste area to see all of the copied cells.
• If you click the arrow below Paste , you can choose from several paste options to apply to your selection.

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See Also

• Filter data in a range or table
• Hide or display rows and columns
• Hide or display the Paste Options button
• Move or copy cells and cell contents

Excel > Worksheet and Excel table basics > Copying and moving

Copy cell values, not formulas

Sometimes, when you copy the contents of a cell, you want to paste just the value and not the underlying formula that is displayed in the formula bar (formula bar: A bar at the top of the Excel window that you use to enter or edit values or formulas in cells or charts. Displays the constant value or formula stored in the active cell.).

For example, you might want to copy the resulting value of a formula to a cell on another worksheet. Or you might want to delete the values that you used in a formula after you copied the resulting value to another cell on the worksheet. Both of these actions cause an invalid cell reference error (#REF!) error to appear in the destination cell, because the cells that contain the values that you used in the formula can no longer be referenced.

You can avoid this error by pasting the resulting values of formulas without the formula in destination cells.

1. On a worksheet, select the cells that contain the resulting values of a formula that you want to copy.
2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+C.

3. Select the upper-left cell of the paste area (paste area: The target destination for data that's been cut or copied by using the Office Clipboard.).

Tip  To move or copy a selection to a different worksheet or workbook, click another worksheet tab or switch to another workbook, and then select the upper-left cell of the paste area.

4. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste , and then click Paste Values.

See Also

• Copy specific cell contents or attributes in a worksheet
• Move or copy a formula
• Move or copy cells and cell contents
• Move or copy rows and columns

Excel > Worksheet and Excel table basics > Copying and moving

Copy specific cell contents or attributes in a worksheet

You can copy and paste specific cell contents or attributes (such as formulas, formats, or comments) from the Clipboard in a worksheet (worksheet: The primary document that you use in Excel to store and work with data. Also called a spreadsheet. A worksheet consists of cells that are organized into columns and rows; a worksheet is always stored in a workbook.) by using the Paste Special command.

1. On a worksheet, select the cells that contain the data or attributes that you want to copy.
2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+C.

3. Select the upper-left cell of the paste area (paste area: The target destination for data that's been cut or copied by using the Office Clipboard.).

Tip  To move or copy a selection to a different worksheet or workbook, click another worksheet tab or switch to another workbook, and then select the upper-left cell of the paste area.

4. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste , and then click Paste Special.

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+ALT+V.

5. In the Paste Special dialog box, under Paste, do one of the following:
   • To paste static data, click the attribute of the copied data that you want.

• To paste linked data, click All or All except borders.
6. Do any of the following as needed:
   • To mathematically combine the contents of the copy area (copy area: The cells that you copy when you want to paste data into another location. After you copy cells, a moving border appears around them to indicate that they've been copied.) with the contents of the paste area, under Operation, specify the mathematical operation that you want to apply to the copied data.

•  Note    Mathematical operations can be applied only to values. To use an option other than None, you must select All, Values, All except border, or Values and number formats under Paste.
• To avoid replacing values in your paste area when blank cells occur in the copy area, select Skip blanks.
• To change columns of copied data to rows, or vice versa, select Transpose.

 Note    Depending on the type of data that you copy and the Paste options that you select, specific options may be unavailable.

7. If you want to link the pasted data to the original data, click Paste Link.

When you paste a link to the data that you copied, Excel enters an absolute reference to the copied cell or range of cells in the new location.

 Note    Paste Link is available only when you select All or All except borders under Paste in the Paste Special dialog box.

Tip  You can also insert copied formulas, values, or linked data in the paste area by clicking Paste (on the Home tab, in the Clipboard group), and then clicking Formulas, Paste Values, or Paste Link.

See Also

• Copy visible cells only
• Insert or embed data from another program in a worksheet
• Move or copy cells and cell contents
• Move or copy rows and columns

Excel > Worksheet and Excel table basics > Copying and moving

Hide or display the Paste Options button

By default, Excel displays a Paste Options button on the worksheet to provide you with special options, such as Keep Source Formatting and Match Destination Formatting, when you paste cells. If you don't want Excel to display this button every time you paste cells, you can turn this option off.

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Excel Options.
2. In the Advanced category, under Cut, copy, and paste, clear or select the Show Paste Options buttons check box to hide or display the Show Paste Options button on the worksheet.

See Also

• Copy visible cells only
• Move or copy cells and cell contents
• Move or copy rows and columns

Excel > Worksheet and Excel table basics > Copying and moving

Insert or embed data from another program in a worksheet

You can copy data in another program, such as Microsoft Office Word, and insert or embed (embedded object: Information (object) contained in a source file and inserted into a destination file. Once embedded, the object becomes part of the destination file. Changes you make to the embedded object are reflected in the destination file.) that data as an object in an Excel worksheet (worksheet: The primary document that you use in Excel to store and work with data. Also called a spreadsheet. A worksheet consists of cells that are organized into columns and rows; a worksheet is always stored in a workbook.) by using the Paste Special command.

If you insert the copied data, it is pasted in the worksheet so that you can edit it directly in Excel. If you embed the copied data as an object, the source program is used when you edit the data. You can also link the copied data to its source file so that any changes that are made to the source data are automatically reflected in the worksheet.

1. In the other program, select the data that you want to copy, and then use the copy command of that program to place the data on the Clipboard.
2. In Excel, select the cell in the upper-left corner of the paste area (paste area: The target destination for data that's been cut or copied by using the Office Clipboard.) in the worksheet where you want to insert or embed the data that you copied to the Clipboard.

 Note    To prevent the copied data from replacing existing data, make sure that the worksheet has no data below or to the right of the cell that you click.

3. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste , and then click Paste Special.

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+ALT+V.

4. In the As box, click the type of data that you want to insert or embed in the worksheet.

 Note    The type of data that you select in the Paste Special dialog box determines whether the data will be inserted or embedded in the worksheet. For example, if you select Text, the data will be inserted as text. If you select an object, such as Microsoft Office Word Document Object, the data will be embedded.

5. Do the following:
   • To insert or embed the data, click Paste.
   • To link the pasted data to its source file, click Paste link.
   • If you do not want embedded or linked data to be displayed in your file, select the Display as icon check box.

 Note    Depending on the type of data that you copy, the Paste link and Display as icon options may not be available.

Tip  Under Result, you can read about the effects of the options that you select.

See Also

• Copy specific cell contents or attributes in a worksheet
• Create, edit, and control OLE objects
• Move or copy cells and cell contents
• Move or copy rows and columns

Excel > Working with other programs

Copy a Word table into Excel

When you want to move data from a Microsoft Office Word table to Microsoft Office Excel, you can avoid having to retype that data by copying it from Word directly into Excel. When you copy data from a Word table into an Excel worksheet (worksheet: The primary document that you use in Excel to store and work with data. Also called a spreadsheet. A worksheet consists of cells that are organized into columns and rows; a worksheet is always stored in a workbook.), the data in each Word table cell is pasted in an individual cell on the worksheet.

Important  After pasting the data, you may have to clean it up so that you can take advantage of the calculation features in Excel. For example, there may be unwanted extra spacing in cells, numbers may have been pasted as text rather than as numeric values that you can calculate, or dates are not displayed correctly.

For more information, see Top ten ways to clean your data.

1. In a Word document, select the rows and columns of the table that you want to copy to an Excel worksheet.
2. To copy the selection, press CTRL+C.
3. In the Excel worksheet, select the upper-left corner of the worksheet area where you want to paste the Word table.

 Note    Make sure that the paste area is empty before you paste the data. Data in Word table cells will replace any existing data in worksheet cells in the paste area. If necessary, review the table first in Word to verify its dimensions.

4. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+V.

5. To adjust the formatting, click Paste Options next to the data that you pasted, and then do the following:
   • To use the formatting that is applied to the worksheet cells, click Match Destination Formatting.
   • To use the formatting of the Word table, click Keep Source Formatting.

 Note    Excel pastes the contents of each Word table cell into a single cell. After you paste the data, you can distribute the data across additional cells in a column (for example, to divide first and last names so that they appear in separate cells) by using the Text to Columns command (Data tab, Data Tools group).

For more information, see Distribute the contents of a cell into adjacent columns.

See Also

• Copy Excel data or charts to Word
• Move or copy cells and cell contents
• Move or copy rows and columns

Excel > Worksheet and Excel table basics > Copying and moving

Move or copy cell widths along with cell contents

When you move or copy the contents of cells, the column width settings of the destination cells will be used when you paste the data. To use the column width settings of the source cells, you can paste the column width of the source cells together with the data.

1. Select the cells that you want to move or copy.

How to select cells or ranges

2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, do one of the following:

• To move cells, click Cut .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+X.

• To copy cells, click Copy .

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+C.

3. Select the upper-left cell of the paste area (paste area: The target destination for data that's been cut or copied by using the Office Clipboard.).

Tip  To move or copy a selection to a different worksheet or workbook, click another worksheet tab or switch to another workbook, and then select the upper-left cell of the paste area.

4. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste , and then click Paste Special.

Keyboard shortcut  You can also press CTRL+ALT+V.

5. In the Paste Special dialog box, under Paste, click Column widths.

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See Also

• Change the column width and row height
• Copy specific cell contents or attributes in a worksheet
• Move or copy cells and cell contents
• Move or copy rows and columns

Excel > Worksheet and Excel table basics > Copying and moving

Rearrange (transpose) data from columns to rows or vice versa

If data is entered in columns or rows, but you want to rearrange that data into rows or columns instead, you can quickly transpose the data from one to the other.

For example, the regional sales data that is organized in columns appears in rows after transposing the data, as shown in the following graphics.

1. On the worksheet, do the following:
   • To rearrange data from columns to rows, select the cells in the columns that contain the data.
   • To rearrange data from rows to columns, select the cells in the rows that contain the data.
2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy .

Keyboard shortcut  To copy the selected data, you can also press CTRL+C.

 Note    You can only use the Copy command to rearrange the data. To complete this procedure successfully, do not use the Cut command.

3. On the worksheet, select the first cell of the destination rows or columns into which you want to rearrange the copied data.

 Note    Copy areas (copy area: The cells that you copy when you want to paste data into another location. After you copy cells, a moving border appears around them to indicate that they've been copied.) and paste areas (paste area: The target destination for data that's been cut or copied by using the Office Clipboard.) cannot overlap. Make sure that you select a cell in a paste area that falls outside of the area from which you copied the data.

4. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the arrow below Paste, and then click Transpose.
5. After the data is transposed successfully, you can delete the data in the copy area.

Tip  If the cells that you transpose contain formulas, the formulas are transposed and cell references to data in transposed cells are automatically adjusted. To make sure that formulas continue to refer correctly to data in nontransposed cells, use absolute references in the formulas before you transpose them.

For more information, see Switch between relative, absolute, and mixed references.

See Also

• Overview of PivotTable reports and PivotChart reports