Paste special and paste values shortcuts in Excel

In short: Ctrl+X cuts, Ctrl+C copies, Ctrl+V pastes. Ctrl+Alt+V opens Paste Special, where V picks Values and Enter pastes. Ctrl+Z undoes, Ctrl+Y redoes, F12 opens Save As.

Try it now

Click into the practice sheet and work with the keyboard only. The sheet counts your key presses and, like Excel, draws a dashed border around whatever you cut or copied. If a paste goes wrong, press Ctrl+Z or use Reset.

Task The ordered quantities ended up in C2:C7, which has no heading. Move them to D2:D7 under "Ordered" with the keyboard, so column C is empty again.

	A	B	C	D	E
1	Item	In stock		Ordered
2	Printer paper	40	20
3	Toner	6	4
4	Binders	25	10
5	Ballpoint pens	120	50
6	Sticky notes	60	30
7	Staples	15	10
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Cut, copy and paste shortcuts at a glance

Everything in this table comes from Microsoft's "Keyboard shortcuts in Excel" reference for Windows and for Mac.

Task	Windows	Mac
Cut	Ctrl+X	⌘+X or Ctrl+X
Copy	Ctrl+C	⌘+C or Ctrl+C
Paste	Ctrl+V	⌘+V or Ctrl+V
Paste Special dialog	Ctrl+Alt+V	⌘+Ctrl+V, Ctrl+Option+V or ⌘+Option+V
Undo	Ctrl+Z	⌘+Z or Ctrl+Z
Redo	Ctrl+Y	⌘+Y, Ctrl+Y or ⌘+Shift+Z
Save	Ctrl+S	⌘+S or Ctrl+S
Save As	F12	⌘+Shift+S or F12

The full list grouped by task is on the Excel shortcut keys cheat sheet.

The cut shortcut: Ctrl+X moves cells

In Excel, cutting really means moving. After Ctrl+X nothing disappears yet: the cells stay where they are, framed by a dashed border, until you pick a target and press Ctrl+V. Only then do content and formatting move over and the old cells become empty.

You only need to select one target cell. Excel treats it as the top left corner and drops the whole block from there, overwriting anything in the way without asking.

The difference from copying matters for formulas. A copied formula adjusts its references to its new position, so =B2*C2 pasted two rows lower becomes =B4*C4. A cut formula keeps pointing at the same cells it pointed at before.

Paste values: replace formulas with their results

Sometimes only the numbers should survive. Maybe the file goes to a client who should not see your formulas, or the source data is about to be overwritten. In both cases you copy the cells and paste them back as values, often onto the very same range.

From the keyboard: select the range, press Ctrl+C, then Ctrl+Alt+V. In the dialog, press the underlined letter of the option you want, V for Values, and confirm with Enter. Microsoft also lists Alt+E+S as a way to open the dialog, an access key left over from older Excel menus.

Task D2:D7 holds formulas (quantity times price). Prices are about to change, but these revenue figures must stay as they are. Replace the formulas in place with their values, keyboard only.

	A	B	C	D	E
1	Item	Quantity	Price $	Revenue $
2	Headset	12	24.5	=B2*C2
3	Keyboard	8	89	=B3*C3
4	USB drive	30	7.25	=B4*C4
5	Monitor arm	5	149	=B5*C5
6	Mouse pad	18	12.5	=B6*C6
7	Cable box	24	9.75	=B7*C7
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The first exercise in this lesson is free.

Paste Special dialog letters

Option	Key
All	A
Formulas	F
Values	V
Formats	T
Comments and notes	C
Column widths	W
Values and number formats	U

Values and number formats (U) is the one to reach for when currency or percentage formatting should stay. Plain Values brings over the bare number only.

What about Ctrl+Shift+V?

In 2022 Microsoft's Insider blog announced Ctrl+Shift+V for Excel on Windows, starting in the Beta Channel. Depending on what you copied, it either pastes values or matches the destination formatting. It is not part of Microsoft's main shortcut reference, so it may or may not work in your version. Try it once; if the formula comes through instead of the result, Ctrl+Alt+V, V, Enter is the dependable route.

Undo and redo: Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y

Ctrl+Z takes back your last action. Press it again to go further back. Ctrl+Y brings an undone step back. When there is nothing to redo, Microsoft describes Ctrl+Y as repeating the last command if possible.

Both work in the practice sheets on this site too, so a paste in the wrong spot does not cost you the exercise. Every undo still counts as a key press.

Save and Save As: Ctrl+S and F12

Ctrl+S saves the workbook; the first time, Excel asks for a name and location. F12 jumps straight to Save As, which is handy for keeping a dated copy or saving in another format. On many laptops F12 doubles as a media key, so you may need to hold Fn. On a Mac, Save As is ⌘+Shift+S or F12. These two are not part of the exercises because your browser claims the same keys.

Paste shortcuts in German Excel

The shortcuts are the same in German Excel, but the menu names change, and so does one letter in the dialog: Values is called Werte, so you press W instead of V.

English	German
Paste Special	Inhalte einfügen
Values (V)	Werte (W)
Cut, Copy, Paste	Ausschneiden, Kopieren, Einfügen
Undo, Redo	Rückgängig, Wiederholen
Save As	Speichern unter

Which Excel versions support these shortcuts?

Microsoft's list applies to Excel for Microsoft 365 and to Excel 2024, 2021, 2019 and 2016, with the Mac keys shown above for Excel for Mac. Excel for the web has its own list because the browser reserves some keys.

Frequently asked questions

Filling down, F4 and AutoSum are covered in editing shortcuts.