How To Select Alternate Cells In Excel

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Have you ever needed to do some calculations only on alternate cells in an Excel spreadsheet? Excel is a powerful tool that offers a multitude of functionalities including this one. This blog post is dedicated to guiding you on how to select alternate cells in Excel. A step-by-step guide, practical examples and some tips and tricks are all included. Let’s get started.

Method 1: Using Excel’s Go To Special Feature

The easiest and quickest way to select alternate cells in Excel is to use Excel’s in-built Go To Special feature. Here are the steps:

  1. Select the first cell in your range.
  2. Press F5 on your keyboard. This will open the Go To dialog box.
  3. Click on the Special button to open the Go To Special dialog box.
  4. In the Go To Special dialog box, select the Rows radio button and also check the Skip blanks checkbox.
  5. Click OK and Excel will select all the alternate cells in the column of the first cell you selected.

Keep in mind, this method only works for columns, not for rows.

Method 2: Using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)

The second method to select alternate cells in Excel is to use Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). This method is more flexible as it works both for columns and rows. Here is a simple VBA code you can use:

    Sub SelectAlternateCells()
        Dim rng As Range
        Dim InputRange As Range
        Dim cell As Range

        Set InputRange = Application.Selection
        Set InputRange = Application.InputBox("Range", xTitleId, InputRange.Address, Type:=8)

        For Each cell In InputRange
            If cell.Row Mod 2 = 1 Then
                If rng Is Nothing Then
                    Set rng = cell
                Else
                    Set rng = Union(rng, cell)
                End If
            End If
        Next

        rng.Select
    End Sub

To use this script, you need to open the VBA editor in Excel by pressing Alt + F11. Then, you can insert a new module and copy-paste this script into the module. To run the script, just press F5 while the module is selected.

Conclusion

Selecting alternate cells in Excel can be a little tricky, but with Excel’s Go To Special feature and VBA, it becomes quite easy. It doesn’t matter if you’re an Excel beginner or an advanced user, knowing how to select alternate cells can save you a lot of time and effort. Hopefully, this guide has been helpful for you. Keep exploring Excel for more!