Tom’s Tutorials For Excel: Using the Keyboard to Select a Row, Column, or All Cells
Here are a few keyboard shortcuts for selecting your worksheet cells.
To select the entire row of your active cell, press the Shift+Spacebar keys.
To select the entire column of your active cell, press the Ctrl+Spacebar keys.
To select all cells on your worksheet, press Ctrl+A+A (pictured), or Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar.
Be aware that if the active cell is within a structured table, these shortcuts only select the cells in the row/column WITHIN THE TABLE (i.e. the selection stops at the boundary of the table)!
For example, pressing Ctrl+Spacebar does NOT select the entire column in the sheet but only the range of cells in that column that are within the table.
Thanks for following my Excel blog.
Well, you are right, and it’s a good point for people who use Tables in the formal sense. I didn’t go into that level of scenario detail with this tutorial, due to my own bias of not using the Table feature. For example, in a PivotTable report or in the source data not formally designated as a Table for a PivotTable report, Shift+Spacebar does select the entire row. The Table feature is something I don’t use, I know it has its place for some users but I never use it, instead I just redefine the dynamic ranges of source lists in my code.
Thanks for pointing out how those keystrokes behave differently inside a Table. Good tip for clarification.
really hepfullllllll
Hello,
I find these tips very helpful. Is there any method to select a particular range in a row using keyboard shortcuts ?
Yes there are, depending on the nature of the range. Ctrl+Shift+Right arrow selects the contiguously populated cells from the active cell to the rightmost populated cell. Same in reverse for Ctrl+Shift+Left arrow. Shift+Home selects from active cell to column A of that row. Shift+Spacebar selects the entire active column and Ctrl+Spacebar selects the active row. Ctrl+* selects the current region. There are others, these are just a few examples.