Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. 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: Dividing Values.

Dividing Values

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 27, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

1

It is not uncommon to need to adjust values imported from a different program, once they are in Excel. For instance, you may need to divide all the imported values by 100 or by 1000 or by some other number.

There is an easy way to perform such an operation in Excel. Simply follow these steps:

  1. Select an empty cell, somewhere outside the range used by your imported data.
  2. Enter the value 100 or 1000 in the empty cell. (Use a value equal to what you want to divide by.)
  3. With the cell selected, press Ctrl+C to copy its contents to the Clipboard.
  4. Select the imported data range. You should not select any headers or non-numeric information.
  5. Display the Home tab of the ribbon.
  6. Click the down-arrow under the Paste tool and choose Paste Special from the resulting choices. Excel displays the Paste Special dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

    7. Figure 1. The Paste Special dialog box.

  7. In the Operation area of the dialog box, make sure you select the Divide option.
  8. Click on OK.
  9. Select the cell where you entered the value in step 2.
  10. Press the Delete key.

That's it! All the values in your data range have been divided by the appropriate amount.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (6228) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Dividing Values.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Removing Leading Spaces in a Table

If you work with data imported from the Web or with documents prepared by others, you may have tables that have leading ...

Discover More

Printing a Single Column in Multiple Columns

Ever printed out a worksheet only to find that you have text only at the left side of each page? You can use more of each ...

Discover More

Putting a Macro Name on the Quick Access Toolbar

In older versions of Word you could customize the program so that either icons or text (or both) could appear on the ...

Discover More

Dive Deep into Macros! Make Excel do things you thought were impossible, discover techniques you won't find anywhere else, and create powerful automated reports. Bill Jelen and Tracy Syrstad help you instantly visualize information to make it actionable. You’ll find step-by-step instructions, real-world case studies, and 50 workbooks packed with examples and solutions. Check out Microsoft Excel 2019 VBA and Macros today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Quickly Updating Values

If you need to update a bunch of values in a worksheet by a standard amount, you can use the Paste Special feature of ...

Discover More

Quickly Transposing Cells

If you want to turn a range of cells by 90 degrees within a worksheet, you need to understand how Excel can handle the ...

Discover More

Adjusting Formulas when Pasting

The Paste Special feature in Excel can be used to uniformly adjust values and formulas. This tip shows how powerful this ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is six less than 8?

2021-03-15 15:43:34

william b. driskell

This tip is also good for converting numbers-as-text into real numbers. Simply copy the value "1" and past special, multiply. Note: empty cells become 0.

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.