Selecting Cells
Single Cell​
Click any cell to select it. The selected cell gets a blue border. Its coordinates appear in the formula bar's cell reference box (e.g., B4).
Range Selection​
| Method | How |
|---|---|
| Click + drag | Hold mouse button and drag across cells |
| Shift + arrow keys | Extend selection one cell at a time |
| Shift + click | Extend selection to the clicked cell |
| Ctrl+Shift+End | Extend to last used cell |
| Ctrl+Shift+Home | Extend to A1 |
Entire Row​
Click the row number on the left edge. Shift+click another row number to select a range of rows. Ctrl+click to add individual rows to the selection.
Entire Column​
Click the column header. The entire column highlights. You can then apply formatting to the entire column.
Select All​
Press Ctrl+A or click the top-left corner cell (above row numbers, left of column A header) to select all cells in the sheet.
Discontiguous Selection​
Hold Ctrl while clicking cells or row numbers to add non-adjacent cells/rows to your selection.
What You Can Do With a Selection​
Once you have a selection:
- Type to replace the content (single cell)
- Apply bold / italic / color from the toolbar
- Apply a number format
- Apply conditional formatting
- Delete the selected rows (right-click → Delete Row)
- Copy (Ctrl+C) to copy to clipboard
- View Sum / Avg / Count in the status bar (numeric columns)
- Flash Fill (Ctrl+E) to auto-complete a pattern
Status Bar Stats​
When you select a range of cells containing numbers, the status bar at the bottom shows:
- Count — number of cells selected
- Sum — total of all selected numeric values
- Average — mean of selected values
- Min / Max — range extremes
These update in real time as you change your selection. No formula required.