Excel Functions for Private Equity: Paste Special

What is the Paste Special Function in Excel?

There’s several different ways that you can Paste a function into Excel. When you Paste on default by pressing CTRL+V, you automatically paste all of the formats, formulas, and values present in the copied cell. But, Paste Special allows you to choose to Paste specifically only the values, formulas, formats, comments, or links present in the copied cell.

We are going to talk about the different ways in which you can copy and specifically paste formats, formulas, and values into Excel individually using Paste Special.

Pasting Formats

In the instance you’d like to copy and paste the format of a cell or cells to another, you can choose to only paste the format present in the copied cell/s by selecting the cell/s in which you want to paste the format, clicking Alt + E + S to bring up the Paste Special Dialogue Box and T to select “Format.”

Pasting Formulas

In the instance you’d like to paste a formula from one cell to another instead of rewriting it over and over again, you can choose to only paste the formula present in the copied cell. You can do this by selecting the cell/s in which you want to paste the formula, clicking Alt + E + S to bring up the Paste Special Dialogue Box and F to select “Formula.”

Excel’s intuition automatically changes cell references according to the row you paste the formula into.

Pasting Values

In the instance you’d like to remove the formula or formatting of a copied cell and just paste the value, you can choose to do so by selecting the cell/s in which you want to paste the formula, clicking Alt + E + S to bring up the Paste Special Dialogue Box and V to select “Value.”

Conclusion

The copy and paste function in Excel saves investors so much time, but Excel isn’t always intuitive when it comes to what you need specific paste options. Paste Special provides you the option to choose the specific type of information you’d like to paste while saving you time.

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About the Author

Brittany Martin is TSM’s Vice President who has developed real estate financial models for an extensive range of property types. She specializes in land, hotel, and storage models. Please reach out to her if you have any questions about the Paste Special function or if she can help you with your modeling needs.