Cut Paste in Excel (Shortcut)

While most people know how to copy and paste in Excel, it’s equally helpful to know how to also cut and paste in Excel.

When you cut a cell or a range of cells and paste it somewhere else, those cells are entirely removed from where you cut it and moved to where you have pasted it (unlike copy paste where a copy is pasted in the destination cell but the original cells remain intact)

In this tutorial, I will give you the keyboard shortcut to Cut and Paste in Excel

Shortcut to Cut Paste in Excel

Below is the keyboard shortcut (Windows) to Cut and Paste into Excel

Control + X, Control + V

And in case you’re using a Mac, you can use the below shortcut:

Command + X, Command + V

How to Use the Keyboard Shortcut to Cut Paste in Excel

Below are the steps to use the above keyboard shortcut:

  1. Select the cells or range of cells that you want to cut
  2. Use the keyboard shortcut Control + X to cut the selected cells
  3. Select the destination cell where you want to paste these cells that you have cut
  4. Use the keyboard shortcut Control + V to paste the cells

Important Things to Know About Cut Paste in Excel:

  • When you use the above keyboard shortcut to cut and paste in Excel, it is going to copy the cell content as well as the formatting and pastes it into the destination cells. And since we are cutting the cells, the content from these cells will be removed (including the values in the cell as well as the formatting)
  • When you copy and paste cells in Excel, you can use the Paste Special option (that allows you to selectively paste only the values or only the formatting, or only the column width). but you do not get access to the Paste Special options when you’re using the Cut Paste method

Alternate Ways to Cut Paste in Excel:

Another way to cut and paste cells in Excel is by using the right-click menu. Below are the steps to do this:

  1. Select the cells that you want to cut
  2. Right-click on the selection
  3. Choose the cut option
  4. Go to the destination cells
  5. Right-click and then paste it

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I am a huge fan of Microsoft Excel and love sharing my knowledge through articles and tutorials. I work as a business analyst and use Microsoft Excel extensively in my daily tasks. My aim is to help you unleash the full potential of Excel and become a data-slaying wizard yourself.

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