Selecting the Current Region

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 20, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Many of the options you undertake in Excel are done using a specific region of the screen. For instance, if you sort data, Excel first selects a region that it will sort. By definition, a region is the area surrounding an active cell that is bounded by blank columns and rows. Sometimes people refer to a region as a table or a list.

If you want to see what Excel considers to be the region surrounding a cell, simply select the cell and press Shift+Ctrl+* (that's the asterisk.) The region is selected.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2102) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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

Changing Page Number Format

Need your page numbers to not appear as regular Arabic numerals? Here's a way to get them to appear in a different ...

Discover More

Detecting if the Insertion Point is Inside a Bookmark

When processing a document using a macro, you may need to know if the insertion point is within a bookmark or not. This ...

Discover More

Hiding the System Date and Time

Windows normally displays the current date and time at the rightmost side of the Taskbar. You can hide the date and time, ...

Discover More

Best-Selling VBA Tutorial for Beginners Take your Excel knowledge to the next level. With a little background in VBA programming, you can go well beyond basic spreadsheets and functions. Use macros to reduce errors, save time, and integrate with other Microsoft applications. Fully updated for the latest version of Office 365. Check out Microsoft 365 Excel VBA Programming For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Adjusting a Range's Starting Point

Select a range of cells, and one of those cells will always be the starting point for the range. This tip explains how to ...

Discover More

Contingent Validation Lists

Data validation can be used to create lists of choices for entry into a particular cell. Using the techniques in this tip ...

Discover More

Shortcut for Selecting a Data Range

Want to select all the data in a contiguous section of a worksheet? The shortcut discussed in this tip makes it very easy.

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 two more than 2?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon 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.