Select non adjacent cells in Excel Mac

Updated August 2022

It’s easy to select a block of cells with your keyboard or mouse. Read on to learn how to select non adjacent cells in Excel and Google Sheets. Press the shift key and move the cursor to the cells. It’s even easier with a computer mouse. Click on the cell and drag the cursor over the ones you want to work on.

With either of these methods, you can select rows and blocks of cells, but how do you select non adjacent cells on a Google Sheet and Excel?

How to Select Non Adjacent Cells in Excel?

When you want to select cells on a google sheet, you have four options. Anyone wanting to know how to select non adjacent cells in Excel can follow the same simple steps.

Selecting Non Adjacent Cells with a Mouse

Along with your mouse, you also need the computer keyboard to select one or more rows and columns.

  • Click on the cell.
  • Press the Control key on the keyboard. Keep holding it down while you are selecting cells.
  • Hold the left-click button on the mouse and drag it to the cells you want to select.

Keep repeating these steps for each cell. It’s an easy way to select non adjacent cells.

Selecting Non Adjacent Cells with a Keyboard

Using your keyboard and mouse to select cells is the easiest method. You can also lose the mouse and only use your keyboard. If you want to know how to select non-adjacent cells in the online excel app, this is the best method. You may not be using a mouse if you are working on a mobile device.

Using only a keyboard takes a few more steps than with a mouse. Don’t worry. It’s still easy to select non adjacent cells.

  1. Use the pad or arrow keys on your keyboard to move the cursor to the cell. Now it is the active cell.
  2. Hold down the F8 key; it’s at the top of your keyboard. Check your status bar it should read Extend Selection.
  3. Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to select single cells, rows, and columns. Pressing the F8 key activated the Extend Selection mode, so you automatically have a selection of the adjacent cells.
  4. When you are done using the Extend Selection mode, simultaneously hold the F8 and shift keys down. Now, you are back in Add or Remove Selection mode. You can add cells, delete them, and make other edits.

When you want to select another cell, repeat the four steps. Don’t forget to turn off Extend Selection. Leaving it on may prevent you from making any edits or adding new cells to the sheet.

Using the above four steps, you can select two non adjacent cells at a time.

Selecting Non Adjacent Cells with the Name Box

When you want to select one or more cells and don’t have a mouse, you can use the Name Box. It only works in Excel, but it’s a quick and easy method when you are selecting non adjacent cells.

The Name Box is to the left of the formula bar. It’s visible, so it’s easy to find.

A handy tip, using the Name Box is the fastest method when you know the name of the cell you want to select. If you don’t know the name, it’s easier to use the mouse and keyboard.

  1. Click the Name Box tab. It opens the dialogue box and moves the cursor inside. Now, you can type in the name of the cell.
  2. You can enter the names of one or more cells. If you are searching for multiple cells, separate the names with a comma.
  3. Press the Enter key.

Pressing Enter automatically brings up and selects the specified cells. The last cell entered into the Name Box is the active one. It’s something you want to remember.

Sometimes, you don’t know the name of the cells you want. You can use the Name Box to search for ranges of non adjacent cells.

When you are naming your cells, keep a list or the ranges simple. Naming a range of cells Data 1, Data 2, etc., makes it easier to select them using the Name Box.

Using the Find & Replace Function

When you are looking for cells with a specific value, this is the fastest method. It only takes a few steps, and you can select all of the cells with a certain name or number.

It’s a handy tool to use and makes it easy to pull up specific information when needed.

The Find & Replace function works with Windows and Mac, though you may use different commands depending on the operating system.

  1. Select the data range.
  2. Press down on the Control and F keys simultaneously. Mac users will hold three keys, Command, +, F.
  3. A dialogue box will open with two options, Find and Find What. Type the cell’s name or value in the Find What field.
  4. Click the Find All tab. It’s at the bottom of the dialogue box. The function will start searching for all cells that match the entered field.
  5. Press the Control and A keys. The selected cells will appear underneath the dialogue box.
  6. Close the Find & Replace box. You should have the non adjacent cells you need.

You can select cell contents in Excel using the Find & Replace function. It also allows you to edit any data contained in the cells.

Summary

Whether you want to know how to select non adjacent cells in Excel 2016 or make, the steps are the same. The only difference is using the keyboard. Mac devices use Command keys instead of Control.

With at least four ways to select non adjacent cells, you won’t have a problem finding the ones you want. Sizle also has innovative products that will help you save, share, and protect your documents and Excel sheets.

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Picture this: you have a lot of reformatting to do on your spreadsheet and there are pockets of different formatting sprinkled throughout. Finally there’s a shortcut to speed up that process!

In this video, I will teach you how to select multiple cells that aren’t next to each other without touching the mouse.

Download FREE Hands-On Exercises

Have you ever tried to select multiple cells that were not next to each other?

Sure, there’s CTRL + CLICK for the PC. There’s COMMAND + CLICK for the Mac. But in this video, I’m going to teach you the shortcut to select non-adjacent cells using only the keyboard.

If you want to select cells that are not next to each other using the mouse, the way to do it primarily is with the keyboard, pressing and holding the CTRL key and then clicking with the mouse. This is probably what you’ve done thus far. You can even click and drag and get a whole range going. That’s for the PC. For the Mac, it’s the same thing, except instead of CTRL, you’re using COMMAND, keeping it pressed, and then clicking around that way.

However, if you ever want to use the keyboard only, the way to do it is with SHIFT + F8. And the memory trick is, “You should have come along, you funny mate!” Which is terrible, I know. This is a terrible trick, but hey, it actually helps you remember. The should is the Shift, and the “funny mate” sounds like eight, so it’s kind of like, you know, close, I guess.

Either way, the way to do it here is to keep SHIFT + F8 pressed now, and then move with the ARROWS. And what that does is it keeps that selection in place before moving. If I Shift down and to the right, for example, and then hit SHIFT + F8 again, I can safely move without losing that selection.

So that’s the whole trick. Before you move, you want to hit the SHIFT + F8. Otherwise, you will “lose your work,” right? If I hit SHIFT + ARROWS and then I move aside without hitting SHIFT + F8, I start from scratch. So that’s a big tip right there, is not to do that until you’re done and you actually have it all selected that you want.

So there’s one more nuance, which is that if you want to take an entire range, you’ll go ahead and hit SHIFT + F8 once, move aside, as we saw. But if you want to take a single cell, you’ll hit SHIFT + F8 twice before moving on. Otherwise, it will not work. So if it’s a single cell, you hit it twice. And if it’s a range of cells, you hit SHIFT + F8 once before you move.

I’ve created a series of exercises for you to practice this shortcut specifically. So the way to do it is to go to the “Non-Adjacent Ranges” tab. You want to match the format. Everything that’s on the left here, you want to make it look identical to the way it is in the example on the right. The only difference here is the bolding. But use the shortcut that we just learned.

So select all of these, hit SHIFT + F8, and then that way, you’ll get it all selected before you even apply the bold. And you would do it all in one swoop, and that’s kind of the whole benefit of this shortcut. That’s for the ranges.

The next tab is going to be the same thing but with individual cells. Notice, you’re going to hit SHIFT + F8 the first time just once, but afterwards, SHIFT + F8 twice before you move on. Otherwise, it will not work. And that’s the whole trick there.

Finally, if you’re feeling adventurous, you’ll go to this “Non-Adjacent Challenge” and you’ll do all of these in one selection without using the mouse. And that way, you can practice all of this together.

Don’t forget to visit excelshir.com, where you can download these exercises, along with other free resources, such as keyboard shortcut cheat sheets for both PC and Mac.

Thanks for watching. See you next time. And if you can only take a stand for one thing in your life, take a stand for sharing the Excel love. That sounds like someone I would stand for.