Moving and Copying Cells

Moving and copying cells is a very common procedure when you are developing or editing your worksheets. Excel refers to moving by a different term, however. It is called cutting, which implies that you cut the information from one place and put it in another. Copying differs from cutting in that copying does not disturb the original cells; cutting clears them.

Whether you are cutting or copying, these operations involve the use of the Clipboard, a temporary storage area that is built into Windows. To cut or copy information, you must first select the cells you want to affect. Then do one of the following:

• To cut cells, choose Cut from the Edit menu, press Ctrl+X, or click your mouse on the Cut tool on the toolbar. (This is the tool that looks like a pair of scissors.)
To copy the cells, choose Copy from the Edit menu, press Ctrl+C, press Ctrl+Insert, or click on the Copy tool on the toolbar. (This is the one that looks like two pieces of paper, just to the right of the Cut tool.)

Once you have done one of these, you can use the Paste or Paste Special commands to place your information elsewhere. Pasting functions the same as in other Windows programs; it places the contents of the Clipboard at the current cursor location. In the case of Excel, the information is placed in your worksheet beginning with the currently selected cell. You can paste the Clipboard contents by choosing Paste from the Edit menu, pressing Ctrl+V, or clicking your mouse on the Paste tool on the toolbar. (This is the tool that looks like a clipboard and piece of paper. It is right next to the Copy tool.)

Within Excel there is another pasting option available from the Edit menu. This option, Paste Special, is rather unique. It allows you to specify how Excel should paste the information in the Clipboard. When you choose it, you will see the Paste Special dialog box. The settings in the dialog box control which portion of the information in the Clipboard you want pasted, as well as what operations you want taken on the information being pasted.