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How to Copy Values, Not Formulas, in Excel: 3 Quickest Methods [2024]

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Excel is an intuitive spreadsheet application boasting a range of tools for quick and easy data management. It has 400+ functions, and every spreadsheet user is adept at applying those formulas to a range of cells across a column or row.

Tricks for copying formulas across multiple cells are often discussed. But what if you wish to copy values (output) instead of a formula?

It is useful when you want to keep the results of calculations without maintaining the original formulas. 

This is a quick guide about Excel copy values not formulas.

Here’s a list of the quickest methods and keyboard shortcuts to get the job done. You can click on the respective links to jump to that particular section of the article.

Download the Example Excel Sheets

The following Excel Sheet contains an example dataset used to demonstrate tools and formulas to copy-paste values only. You can download it and follow me along.

Click Here To Download!

Practice is the key to success. If you have your own spreadsheet ready with the required dataset, then skip downloading the above file.

How to use the Paste special tool to copy values and not a formula in Excel

Excel’s Paste Special tool is useful when standard copy/ paste is inappropriate. It allows you to paste only specific elements of the copied cells.

Consider the following data table, in which we have calculated the total salary a company has to pay to its employees annually using the SUM function in Excel.

Guide To Excel Copy Values Not Formula [With Examples]

As you can see, the SUM function is used in cell “C21.” Let’s copy and paste the values from this cell to another cell.

Let’s begin,

  • Open your desired Excel workbook
  • Select the “C21“
  • Copy the contents of the C21 by pressing “CTRL + C” on your keyboard or right-click and select “Copy” from the popup
  • Now, let us choose the cell “F1” to paste values
  • Right-click using your mouse to see more options
  • Choose the “Paste Special” option from the popup
  • A new dialog box will appear on your screen
  • Tick the radio button before the “Values only” option
  • Click on “OK”

It is pretty straightforward, and you don’t need to be an expert at Excel to use the Paste special tool.

What is another way to access the Paste Special tool in Excel?

There are two ways to access the Paste Special tool in Excel. In the first method, you can select the desired cell and right-click to see the Paste Special option.

Meanwhile, in the second method, users can access the tool from the main menu, as discussed below.

  • Open your desired workbook
  • Select the “C21“
  • Copy the contents of the C21 by pressing “CTRL + C” on your keyboard
    (You can also right-click and select the “Copy” option from the popup, as shown in the following image)
  • Next, hover to the main menu and go to the “Home” tab
  • Click on the “Paste” dropdown in the “Clipboard” group as shown below
  • Select “Paste Special” from the dropdown menu
  • Click on the first icon in the “Paste Values” section as shown below

That’s it!

But if you wish to copy-paste the values and the number formatting, then click on the second icon, and to get the values and source formatting, click on the third one.

Keyboard shortcut to Copy Values and not a Formula in Excel

Every PC or laptop user is well aware of the two popular keyboard shortcuts:

  • “CTRL + C” to copy the content (“CMD + C” on Mac)
  • “CTRL + V” to paste the copied content (“CMD + V” on Mac)

You may be using both of them over a long, long time!

But do you know Excel supports another powerful keyboard shortcut that only allows you to paste values?

“CTRL + SHIFT + V” on Windows and “CMD + SHIFT + V” on Mac

Now, let’s use this keyboard shortcut to copy-paste the values only and get the total annual salary as we did in the previous method.

  • Select the cell whose value needs to be copied
  • Press “CTRL + C” on your keyboard
  • Now, click on the cell where you wish to paste the value
  • Press “CTRL + SHIFT + V” on your keyboard

It is the quickest method of copy-pasting values only.

As you can see from the above GIF, after using the keyboard to copy-paste the values, most of the cell formatting has been lost except the number formatting.

How to use a Formula to Copy Values only in Excel

Not exactly the formula, but you can call it a Comparison Operator to get similar values.

It simply reflects the values from one cell to another.

This method creates a dynamic value that will auto-update whenever the value of the primary cell (from where you copied the value) is changed.

Here’s the example data,

Our job is to get the value of the cell “C21” into “F1”.

Here are the steps to copy the values using the Equal To (“=”) comparison operator,

  • Select the cell “F1” where you wish to paste the value
  • Type “=”
  • Now, provide the cell reference “C21“, as the values of this cell need to be copied
  • Press the “Enter” key

The formula is pretty simple, and it should look like below,

=C21

Whenever the content of cell “C21” is changed, it will automatically update within cell “F1,” as shown in the following GIF.

Why should I copy values and not formulas in Excel?

Sometimes, copy-pasting values from the cells, which include formulas, will lead to errors or unexpected results. Those errors will also mess up further calculations.

To avoid this, you can copy-paste values only.

Also, in some cases, a spreadsheet may contain dynamic functions such as TODAY, NOW, RAND, RANDBETWEEN, and so on.

Such volatile functions generate output whenever users open the Excel worksheet and perform any operation within the spreadsheet. To freeze the values generated by such functions, users need to copy-paste the values, not formulas, into a different cell.

Conclusion

That’s all about how to copy a value and not a formula in Excel.

You can use the Paste special tool or keyboard shortcut to get the values from a cell holding the formulas.

Feel free to comment below if you need any help copy-pasting values in Excel. Our team of experts will answer all of your questions as soon as possible.

Also, make sure to explore our blog section for more tips and tricks on using Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets like a pro.