About moving and copying data

When you move a formula, the cell references within the formula do not change. When you copy a formula, absolute cell references do not change; however, relative cell references will change in relation to the position of the pasted cell. For example, if you copy the formula

=A1+B1

from cell C1 to cell D2, which is one column to the right and one row down, the references in the formula update to reflect the new position:

=B2+C2

If the area you select to copy includes cells hidden by filtering, you copy only the visible cells. If the area where you paste the data includes rows hidden by filtering, you might need to turn off filtering to see all of the copied cells. You cannot move data from a range that includes filtered rows. To move the data you must first turn off filtering.

Cells that are copied from a spreadsheet are placed on the Office Clipboard in XML-Spreadsheet, HTML, and plain text formats. The most appropriate format is chosen for the application to which you are pasting. For example, when you paste the cells into a Microsoft Office Excel 2003 worksheet, the formulas, values, and cell formats are reproduced on the worksheet by pasting in XML-Spreadsheet format. When you paste the cells into a Microsoft Word document, the cells are pasted as a table using HTML format. The cell formatting and values are preserved, but not formulas. When you paste into Notepad, the cells are pasted as plain text, which does not include formatting or formulas.

Copying and moving data in a spreadsheet is different from copying and moving data in Excel in the following ways:

No copy indicator Cells that you've copied in a spreadsheet do not have the Excel moving dashed border to indicate what was copied.

No Paste Special command When you copy cells in a spreadsheet, you copy values, formatting, and formulas. You cannot paste these elements separately, transpose rows for columns when you paste, or apply an add, subtract, multiply, or divide operation, as you can in Excel.

Cells can't be inserted when you paste In a spreadsheet, cells that you paste always replace existing cells. In Excel, you can insert the copied cells. To add blank space for data that you copy or move in a spreadsheet, you can insert rows and columns before you paste the copied cells.

Copied data remains on the Clipboard When you copy data in a spreadsheet, it remains on the Clipboard until you copy other data or erase the Clipboard. After copying data, you can perform other operations in the spreadsheet, and then paste the data. In Excel, the contents are removed from the Clipboard if you perform other operations or press ESC before you paste the data.

Data is cut immediately When you move data in a spreadsheet, the data disappears as soon as you cut it, and you can paste the cut data only once. (You can, however, paste copied data multiple times.) When you move data in Excel, the cut data isn't removed from its original location until you paste it, and you can paste the data multiple times.