Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Slowing Down Mouse Selection.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 10, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365
You may have noticed that it is sometimes difficult to select quite a few cells when you are using the mouse. As you move the mouse past the bottom of the screen, the rows may zip by too fast to select them. Move the mouse back up to the top of the screen, and the rows zip by in the opposite direction.
It may sound trite, but one of the most common solutions to this problem is to use the keyboard in conjunction with the mouse to do your selecting. The easiest way to do this is by clicking the cell at the start of your selection and then holding down the Shift key while you click where you want the selection to end.
However, if you don't want to use the keyboard and only rely on the mouse, your options are a bit more limited. Perhaps the best idea is to get a new mouse. A mouse that has a scroll wheel between the buttons comes in handy; you can use the wheel to scroll at a much slower rate.
Barring either of these solutions, you may be able to fine-tune your use of the mouse when scrolling. Excel actually includes two scrolling speeds. To use the slower speed when selecting cells, move the mouse down to where the worksheet tabs appear. This scrolls downward at a relatively moderate speed. Moving the mouse below the worksheet tabs sends the scrolling into full-speed mode. The "moderate speed" zone for scrolling upward is the column indicators (A, B, C, etc.), and the high-speed zone is above that. The actual differences between these scroll speeds depends on the speed of your computer and how many other tasks your system is running.
The final option to try is to slow down the mouse speed using Windows itself through the Control Panel. (Control Panel | Hardware and Sound | Devices and Printers | Mouse | Pointer Options.)
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (5662) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Slowing Down Mouse Selection.
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2018-11-18 13:15:47
Henry Noble
Here's a solution that is independent of the speed of the mouse cursor, the type of mouse, and the speed of the computer.
Select the cell that is at the top left corner of the desired selection area, use a left-click to drag down the slider at the right of the Excel window until the end of the selection is in view, then shift-click the last cell in the selection.
On a deep worksheet, this method is much faster than scrolling with the arrow keys or a mouse scroll wheel.
2018-11-17 14:08:33
G Blewitt
An approach I have used over the years is to determine the upper left/lower right cell addresses of your range, then type them in the address box at the upper left of the formula line, separated by a colon, e.g. A1:z576. Excel will immediately select that range, at which point you can replace the addresses with a range name if you want.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here:
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