Quickly Enter Data in Excel in a Specific Order in Non-Contiguous Cells

Data Entry in Excel could be a very boring task.

Suppose you have a template as shown below, and you have to enter data in excel in all the cells highlighted in red, in the order specified by the arrows.

Enter Data in Excel in Specific Order

While this seems easy enough, it could be nerve-wracking when you have many such non-contiguous cells and you are burning your eyes by spotting and filing these cells one by one.

Quick Way to Entering Data in Excel in a Specific Order:

  • Select all the cells where you need to enter the data (press control and then select one by one).
    • Start with the second cell in your sequence of data entry (D3 in this case).
    • Select the first cell B3 (where data entry begins) at last
  • Once selected, go to Name Box (which is on the left of formula bar)
  • Type any name (I used InputRange) without spaces

Enter Data in Excel Named Range

  • That’s It!! Select the Named Range by clicking the Name Box drop-down. Now start entering your data and use Enter/Tab to jump to the next cell.

Enter Data in Excel Demo

Why did we Start the Selection with the Second Cell?

When you select the first cell in the last, it becomes your active cell. Now whenever you select the named range, you can directly start typing, as the first cell would be your active cell.

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Sumit Bansal
Hello there! I'm Sumit Bansal, founder of trumpexcel.com and an Excel MVP. I started this website in 2013 with a simple goal: to share my love for Excel through easy to follow tips, tutorials and videos. I'm here to help you get the best out of MS Excel to save time and boost your productivity.

2 thoughts on “Quickly Enter Data in Excel in a Specific Order in Non-Contiguous Cells”

  1. Great tip. But I have problem. It is for very small number of cells. If I have list of about 2000 families and every family have about 10 column data with some columns to be excluded how to shift to next row? Or do I have to select all those cells of 2000 families?

    Reply

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