How can I select every other column in Excel?

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To select every other column in Excel, you can use the shortcut key “Ctrl + Shift + Right Arrow” to select the first column, then hold down the “Ctrl” key and use the right arrow key to select every other column. Alternatively, you can click and drag your cursor over the columns you want to select while holding down the “Ctrl” key. This will allow you to select every other column in a specific range. For example, if you want to select every other column from column A to column F, you would select column A, hold down “Ctrl” and select columns C and E, thereby skipping columns B and D. This method can be useful when working with large datasets or when you need to perform calculations on specific columns.

Select Every Other Column in Excel (With Example)

You can use the CHOOSECOLS function in Excel to select every other column in a specific range.

For example, you can use the following formula to select every other column in the range A1:G11:

=CHOOSECOLS(A1:G11, {1,3,5,7})

The following example shows how to use this formula in practice.

Example: Select Every Other Column in Excel

Suppose we have the following dataset in Excel that contains information about various basketball players:

Suppose we would like to select every other column in this range.

We can type the following formula into cell A14 to do so:

=CHOOSECOLS(A1:G11, {1,3,5,7})

The following screenshot shows how to use this formula in practice:

Excel select every other column

We can see that the CHOOSECOLS function returned columns in positions 1, 3, 5 and 7 from the range A1:G11.

This has the effect of selecting every other column in the range:

Since the first number that we specified in the CHOOSECOLS function was 1, it returned every other column from the range starting with the first column.

If you would instead like to return every other column starting with the second column, you can use the following formula instead:

=CHOOSECOLS(A1:G11, {2,4,6})

The following screenshot shows how to use this formula in practice:

Notice that every other column in the range is selected, starting from the second column.

Note: You can find the complete documentation for the CHOOSECOLS function .

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to perform other common operations in Excel:

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