Easy Shortcut for Go To Special in Excel

Excel has a useful “Go To Special” feature that allows you to quickly select specific types of cells, such as those with formulas, comments, conditional formatting, and more. The keyboard shortcut to access this feature is Ctrl+G then Alt+S. Using this shortcut can save you a lot of time when working with large spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel.

What is the Go To Special Feature in Excel?

The Go To Special tool in Excel lets you rapidly find and select cells that meet certain criteria. This is much faster than manually searching through a spreadsheet, especially for large datasets. Some common things you can select with Go To Special include:

• Cells containing formulas
• Cells with comments
• Blank cells
• Cells containing constants (numbers, text, logical values, errors)
• Cells with conditional formatting
• The current region around the selected cell
• Cells with data validation
• And more

Go To Special is found under the Find & Select menu on the Home tab in Excel. But rather than clicking through the menus, you can use a quick keyboard shortcut to pull it up instantly.

The Go To Special Shortcut in Excel

Here’s how to use the shortcut for Go To Special in Excel:

1. Select any cell in your Excel spreadsheet
2. Press Ctrl+G to open the Go To dialog box
3. Press Alt+S to open the Go To Special menu
4. Choose the option you want and click OK

That’s it! Excel will instantly select the cells matching your criteria. This is much faster than finding the Go To Special menu with your mouse.

When to Use the Go To Special Excel Shortcut

The Go To Special shortcut comes in handy anytime you need to quickly find and select certain cells in an Excel spreadsheet. Here are a few examples of when it can save you time:

Auditing Formulas

If you need to check or edit the formulas in a spreadsheet, use Go To Special to instantly select all the formula cells:

1. Press Ctrl+G then Alt+S
2. Choose “Formulas” and click OK
3. Excel selects all the cells with formulas

Now you can easily see all the formulas without having to hunt through the sheet. This is really helpful for auditing unfamiliar spreadsheets.

Clearing Data

Need to quickly clear all the data out of a spreadsheet, but leave the formulas intact? The Go To Special shortcut makes it easy:

1. Press Ctrl+G then Alt+S
2. Choose “Constants” and select the data types to clear out (numbers, text, etc.)
3. Click OK to select those cells
4. Press the Delete key to clear the data

Using this shortcut ensures you don’t accidentally overwrite important formulas when clearing a sheet.

Applying Formatting

Want to quickly apply formatting to cells with certain properties, like all the comments or data validation? Just select them with Go To Special first:

1. Use Ctrl+G then Alt+S to open Go To Special
2. Choose the cell type (e.g. “Data Validation” or “Comments”)
3. Click OK to select matching cells
4. Apply your formatting changes

By pre-selecting cells this way, your formatting will only apply where you want. This precise targeting saves time and avoids mistakes.

Go To Special Options

Here’s a quick reference for all the options in the Go To Special menu and what they select:

Take some time to explore these options. Knowing what’s available in Go To Special will help you use it effectively.

Combining Go To Special with Other Excel Features

The Go To Special feature is even more powerful when combined with other Excel tools. Here are a couple examples.

Go To Special with Find & Replace

Need to update text in just the formula cells? Rather than replacing everywhere, you can target only formulas:

1. Use Ctrl+G then Alt+S to select cells with formulas
2. Press Ctrl+H to open the Find & Replace window
3. Enter the text to find and replace
4. Click Replace All

Since only formula cells are selected, the replacement will just happen there. This precision prevents accidentally overwriting data elsewhere in the sheet.

Go To Special with Paste Special

You can also combine Go To Special with Paste Special for more control over pasting:

1. Copy the data you want to paste
2. Use the Go To Special shortcut to select the destination cells
3. Right-click and choose Paste Special
4. Select your paste options and click OK

For example, to paste only the values from copied formulas, select the destination with Go To Special, then use Paste Special > Values. This strips out the formulas and keeps just the calculated values.

Recap & Final Tips

The Go To Special shortcut in Excel (Ctrl+G then Alt+S) is a huge time-saver anytime you need to select cells meeting certain criteria. Some key ways to use it:

• Audit sheets by selecting all formula cells
• Clear data but leave formulas intact
• Apply formatting to specific cell types
• Update text in just formula cells with Find & Replace
• Control how data is pasted with Paste Special

A few final tips for using this shortcut effectively:

• Experiment with the options to see what each one selects
• Combine it with other Excel features like Find and Paste Special
• Practice using it to build the muscle memory
• Share it with colleagues to help them work faster too

Mastering the Go To Special shortcut is guaranteed to speed up your Excel workflow. Try incorporating it into your spreadsheet routine and see how much time you save!

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Vaishvi Desai

Vaishvi Desai is the founder of Excelsamurai and a passionate Excel enthusiast with years of experience in data analysis and spreadsheet management. With a mission to help others harness the power of Excel, Vaishvi shares her expertise through concise, easy-to-follow tutorials on shortcuts, formulas, Pivot Tables, and VBA.