How to Select Non-Contiguous Cells in Excel (5 Easy Ways) (2023)

Inexcel, you can selectadjacent cellsVery easy. It's a simple one. But selectnon-adjacentcells (you can also refer to them asnot adjacentcells), is not so simple, is it? Don't worry, today I'll show you how to selectnon-contiguouscells in Excel, believe me, you'll wonder how easy that was! All of these methods will work in different waysMicrosoft Excelversions (Exel2010,Exel2013,Excel 2016, InExcel 2019).

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5 Easy Ways to Select Non-Contiguous Cells in Excel

This tutorial will walk you through itfiveeasy ways to choosenon-adjacentcells in Excel. Let's know more about the dataset in Excel (B4:E10) first, which will be used as the basis for our examples for this article. This dataset is about customer data and the pursuit of credit cards. There arefourcolumns,Customer Name,City,phone number, InCredit card type. Besides, you might see some of themduplicatevalues, they are used on purpose. So let's get started without further delay.

1. Apply mouse and keyboard to select nonadjacent cells in Excel

In this method, we use ourmouseSelectingnon-contiguouscells in Excel (although we're going to use a little help from thekeyboard). To do this, follow the steps below.

Steps:

• At the beginning, click on theTHEyou wantSelecting(you candragand select onefew cellsinstantly).
• Here we first click on cellC5of theCustomer Namecolumn.
• However, you can choose your own selection.

• Then hold theCtrlkey on the keyboard and enter thecursoron the desired cell.
• And,click leftclick the mouse to select the cell.
• After selecting a cell,to leavethe mouseClick.
• Likewise,Selectingthe rest of the cells keep theCtrlkey.
• In this case we selected cellsB8,E5&E9 respectively.
• You can see the selection in the image below.
• Finally, you canCtrlkey after selecting the desired cells.

Read more: Move Cells Down in Excel (7 Methods)

2. Select nonadjacent cells in Excel with keyboard only

In the previous method, we used themouse, although theCtrlkey was helpful. But this way of selectingnot adjacentcells in excel we use thekeyboardonly. The steps are below.

Steps:

• First select theTHEyou prefer.
• In our case, we chose cellB6(see screenshot).

• Now press theF8key toslotthe active cellB6.
• In addition, it will install your system in theExpand selectionmodus.
• See thestatus barof the following image.

• Press at this timeShift + F8on the keyboard.
• So go to another oneTHEand add that to youselection.
• However, let's go to the cellD7and then press theF8key again.
• Similarly, select cellE9.
• Finally, in the screenshot below, we can see that theB6,D7, InE9cells are selected.
• In addition, you can go to and select as many cells as you want.
• ToCancelthis mode pressF8 twotimes repeatedly.

Read more: Select Cells in Excel with Keyboard (9 Ways)

3. Choose nonadjacent cells with the Name Box tool in Excel

In this approach, we use theBox namefor selectnot adjacentcells. The location of theBox namein a worksheet is shown in the following image.

Here you have to type itcell referenceson theBox namemanually. So be sure of your cells. The steps to apply this method are below.

Steps:

• First write down the cells (B6,Q10&D5) on theBox name, separated by the comma (,).
• See the screenshot below.

• Now hit theEnterkey on the keyboard.
• So the cells (B6,Q10,D5) the u in theBox nameis selected (see screenshot).
• Just remember one thing, you don't have to follow anythingorderwhen entering thecell referencesin theBox name.

Read more: How to Drag Cells in Excel Using Keyboard (5 Smooth Ways)

Similar readings

• How to Select Multiple Cells in Excel (7 Easy Ways)
• Techniques for cleaning data in Excel: filling blank cells
• What is an active cell in Excel?
• Excel if one cell equals another, return another cell
• How to Delete a Cell in Excel (4 Easy Ways)

4. Choose nonadjacent cells with find and replace functions

In this selection we show you how to selectnon-adjacentcells using theFind and replacetool. Here we will find the cells that'Allen Perl’ using this tool (see screenshot). See the following steps for this.

Steps:

• Press firstCtrl+Fon the keyboard.
• In turn theFind and replacedialog box appears.

• Then go to theFindtab in the dialog box.
• Now, on theFind someoption write your desired word.
• For example, I useAllen Perl.
• Then clickWin all.

• Therefore, the box will show allfindingsthat match the keyword (Allen Perl).

• At this point, just clickCtrl+A.

• As a result, the cells (B5&B10) with the keyword (Allen Perl) is selected.

• Finally you canclose toofFind and replacebox.

• However, it will not hinder youselections(see screenshot).

Read more: Move Selected Cells in Excel with Keyboard (4 Methods)

5. Use Excel Go To dialog for selecting nonadjacent cells

Here we use an editing tool calledGo tofor selectnot adjacentcells. We can find this tool in theTo processgroup of theAt hometab. Let's explore.

Steps:

• Around theGo todialog box, go to it firstAt hometab.

• Then click on theSearch & selectdrop-down list in theTo processgroup.

• Now you will see an option calledGo to.
• Click there.

• Therefore, there is a new dialog (Go to) will come at you.
• Therefore, place thecell referencesof the cells you wantSelecting, divided bycome.
• See the screenshot below.
• Click on itOKon the dialog box.
• Or just press theEnterkey.

• Taken bycellsyou mentioned in thedialog boxwill beselected.
• In our case, we selected cellsB6,C8 & E5.
• However, you can choose yours.
• Similar to theBox namemethod you don't have to follow oneorderhere.
• In addition to thelastone on the list is shown as oneactivethe (E5in our case).

Read more: Select all cells with data in a column in Excel (5 methods + shortcuts)

Conclusion

So that's all for today's session. I have tried to list some of the basic methods of selecting nonadjacent cells in Excel. I hope you will find this helpful. Feel free to comment if something seems difficult to understand. Let us know which of the options you prefer or if you have your own way of selecting nonadjacent cells. Follow our websiteExcelDemyto get more articles like this.

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