How to Cut a Cell Value in Excel (Keyboard Shortcuts)

Working with Excel often involves rearranging the data in the worksheets.

And one common task many Excel users have to do is to cut the cell values from one cell and paste it to some other cell in the same worksheet or in another worksheet/workbook.

While this is a basic operation that most Excel users are often aware of, in case you’re a beginner, I’ll show you everything you need to know about how to cut a cell value in Excel.

Keyboard Shortcut to Cut Cell Value (or Range of Cells)

Let’s first start with the simplest and the most common way of cutting a cell value in Excel – a keyboard shortcut.

Control + X

Below are the steps to use the above keyboard shortcut to cut cell values in Excel:

1. Select the cell or range of cells that you want to cut
2. Hold the Control key on your keyboard (use the Command key instead of the Control key if you’re using a Mac)
3. Press the X key. You will see dancing ants (a dashed outline) around the selection

4. Select say where you want to copy the cell/range that you cut
5. Use the keyboard shortcut Control + V to paste the cut cells (hold the Control key and then press the V key)

Also read: 200+ Excel Keyboard Shortcuts – 10x Your Productivity

Cut Cells Using Mouse Drag and Drop

If you perform using your mouse over using the keyboard shortcuts, you can easily do that as well.

Below I have a dataset where I want to cut to the cells in column A and paste these in column C.

Below are the steps to do this using mouse drag and drop:

1. Select the range of cells that you want to cut
2. Place the cursor at the edge of the selection. You will notice that the cursor changes and shows a four-arrow icon (as shown below)

3. Press the left mouse key and hold it
4. Drag the cursor to the position where you want these cells to be pasted
5. Leave the mouse key

The above steps would cut the selected cells and then paste them where you have the cursor.

While you may think that these are a lot of steps compared to a keyboard shortcut, in my experience, this method is equally fast if you want to cut and paste cells in a nearby area.

Where this fails is when you want to cut the cells and paste them in some other worksheet or some other workbooks (as this only works in the same worksheet).

Also read: Boost Your Productivity with Excel Mouse Double Click Tricks

Cut Partial Cell Value Using Keyboard Shortcut

Sometimes, you may want to cut only a part of the content in a cell and not the entire cell itself.

In such a scenario, the only way to do this is to get into the edit mode in the cell, manually select the content that you want to cut, use the keyboard shortcut to cut that content, and then paste it wherever you want.

Below I have the text “It’s a Wonderful Day” in cell A1, And I want to only cut the text “Wonderful Day”.

Here are the steps to do this:

1. Select the cells that have the content that you want to cut (cell A1 in our example)
2. Double-click on the cell or press the F2 key to get into the edit mode (you’ll see the cursor blinking in the cell when you are in the edit mode)
3. Use your mouse to drag the cursor and select the cell that you want to cut

4. Use the keyboard shortcut Control + X to cut the text
5. Select the cell where you want to paste this text
6. Paste the copied content by using the keyboard shortcut Control V

While it’s possible for you to copy multiple cells and cut and paste them at the same time, when you want to cut partial text from a cell, you need to do it one cell at a time.

Note: You can also select the partial text by selecting the cell and then copying the text from the Formula Bar

In this tutorial, I showed you a simple keyboard shortcut that you can use to quickly cut and paste cell values in Excel.

I also covered how you can use the mouse drag-and-drop technique to do the same thing without using a keyboard shortcut. And I also covered how you can cut partial text from a cell in excel.

I hope you found this Excel tutorial useful.

Other Excel tutorials you may also like:

• Save As Shortcuts in Excel (Quick and Easy)
• Copy and Paste Multiple Cells in Excel (Adjacent & Non-Adjacent)
• How to Copy and Paste Columns in Excel? 3 Easy Ways!
• How to Copy and Paste Formulas in Excel without Changing Cell References
• Working with Cells and Ranges in Excel VBA (Select, Copy, Move, Edit)
• How to Start a New Line in Excel Cell (Keyboard Shortcut + Formula)