Paste Values in Excel (Shortcut)

When you copy a cell or range of cells and paste it somewhere else in Excel, it pastes the values along with the formula/formatting in the copied cells.

However, Excel also allows you to only paste the values in the copied cells (where the formatting or the formulas in those cells are not pasted).

This is made possible using the Paste Special option in Excel.

In this tutorial, I will give you the shortcut to only paste values in Excel

Shortcut to Paste Values in Excel

Below is the shortcut to Paste Values in Excel:

ALT + E + S + V + Enter

How to Use the Keyboard Shortcut to Paste Values

Below are the steps to use the above keyboard shortcut:

  1. Select the cell or range of cells that you want to copy
  2. Right-click on the selected cells and then click on copy (or you can use the keyboard shortcut Control + C in Windows or Command + C in Mac)
  3. Select the destination cell where you want to paste the values
  4. Use the above keyboard shortcut ALT + E + S + V + Enter (press one key after the other)

When you press the key ALT + E + S, it opens the Paste Special dialog box.

Then when you press V, it selects the Values option in the Paste Special dialog box.

Paste special dialog box where the values option is selected

And then, hitting the Enter key would click the Ok button, so the values are pasted.

Pro Tip: Another keyboard shortcut to open the Paste Special dialog box is ALT + SHIFT + V. To use this, hold the Alt and the Shift keys together and then press the V key

Important Things to Know About Paste Values:

  • In case you already have some values in the destination cells, the above steps would override those values and paste the values from the copied cells
  • A similar keyboard shortcut can also be used only to paste the formulas or only paste the formats in Excel
    • Paste Formulas only – ALT + E + S + F + Enter
    • Paste Formats only – ALT + E + S + T + Enter
    • Paste Comments/Notes Only – ALT + E + S + C + Enter

Alternate Ways to Paste Values:

You can also open the paste special dialogue box using the right-click menu.

Below are the steps to do this:

  1. Copy the cells you want to paste
  2. Right-click on the Destination cell
  3. Click on the Paste Special option. This will open the Paste Special dialog box
click on the paste special option
  1. Select the Values option
Paste special dialog box where the values option is selected
  1. Click OK

Other Excel shortcuts you may also like:

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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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