Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 5, 2025)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365
If you want to copy the contents of a cell without formatting, you can easily do so by using the Paste Special feature of Excel. Simply follow these steps:
In step 5 you could have chosen one of the Paste Values options, but Excel would not have transferred any formulas. Instead, it would have pasted the results of formulas, as if they were static values. In other words, to truly copy cell contents, you must use the Formulas option.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9045) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Copying a Cell without Formatting.
Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!
Excel allows you to use multiple colors to format the text in a cell. If you want to later separate that text to ...
Discover MoreWant to add a bunch of blank rows to your data and have those rows interspersed among your existing rows? Here's a quick ...
Discover MoreEdit a group of workbooks at the same time and you probably will find yourself trying to copy information from one of ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2025-07-05 08:26:40
Alex Blakenburg
Typically when you copy cells without formatting you still want dates to be recognisable as dates and numbers especially things like percentages to still be easy to read. The paste special option "and number formats" preserves this type of formatting and is highly under utilised.
There is "Values and number formats" and in this case a "Formulas and number formats" option.
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.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments