How to select entire column except header/first row in Excel?

If you have a long list with a header in your worksheet, and you want to select the entire column but the header, you can select them by dragging mouse, but this method is too troublesome when the list is very long. Here I have some tricks for you to quickly select the entire column except header or the first row in Excel.

Select entire column (excluding blank cells) except header with shortcut

If your list does not contain any blank cells, you can use the shortcut to select entire column but the first row.

Select the header or the first row of your list and press Shift + Ctrl + ↓(the drop down button), then the list has been selected except the first row.

Note: If there are blank cells in your list, it will select the list until the first blank cell appears with this method.

Select entire column (including blank cells) except header with define name

If the list contains blank cells, with the shortcut cannot solve the selecting, now you can define a name for the column that you can select it except the first row in Excel.

1. Click Formula > Define Name, see screenshot:

2. In the Define Name dialog, specify a name you like, and select Workbook in the Scope list and then type =$A$2:$A$1048576 (A is the column you want to select, in Excel 2003, you can change $A$1048576 to $A$65536) into the Refers to text box. See screenshot:

3. Then select the name you have defined in above step from the Name Box, you can see the entire column but the first row has been selected.

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Select entire column (including blank cells) except header with VBA

Also, besides the Define Name function, you can use VBA to select entire column but first row.

1. Select a cell of the column you want to select and press Alt + F11 to open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

2. In the pop-up window, click Insert > Module, then paste the following VBA code into the module.

VBA: Select entire column except header

Sub SelectColumn()
'Updateby20140510
Dim xColIndex As Integer
Dim xRowIndex As Integer
xIndex = Application.ActiveCell.Column
xRowIndex = Application.ActiveSheet.Cells(Rows.Count, xIndex).End(xlUp).Row
Range(Cells(2, xIndex), Cells(xRowIndex, xIndex)).Select
End Sub

3. Click Run button, then the column which selected cell in is selected except the first row.

Tip: The VBA macro will select from the second cell to the last cell with content in the column you activated in Step 1.

Select entire column (including or excluding blank cells) except header with Kutools for Excel

The above methods may a little troublesome for you, but using the Select Range Helper feature of Kutools for Excel will be easy for you to select entire column (including or excluding blank cells) except first cell.

After installing Kutools for Excel, please do as below:(Free Download Kutools for Excel Now!)

If you want to select enrire column except first cell which including blank cells, do as below:

1. Select the entire column first and click Kutools > Select Tools > Select Range Helper. See screenshot:

2. In the Select Ranger Helper dialog, check Deselect Cells, then select the header of the selected column, and click Close to close the dialog. See screenshot:

Then the entire column has been selected except the header.

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