How to Copy & Paste Without Borders in Excel & Google Sheets

Written by

Editorial Team

Reviewed by

Laura Tsitlidze

Last updated on May 25, 2023

This tutorial demonstrates how to copy cells and paste without borders in Excel and Google Sheets.

copy paste without borders final

Copy and Paste Without Borders

If you copy one cell to another in Excel using basic copy-paste, you copy all cell attributes. This includes: background color, font type and color, borders, etc. Say you have the cell format shown in B2 below (red font, yellow cell background, and thick outside border).

copy paste without borders initial data

If you just copy-paste this cell to B4, all attributes are copied along with the content.

copy paste

To copy a cell without copying its borders, follow these steps:

  1. Right-click the cell you want to copy (here, B2), and choose Copy (or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + C).

copy paste without borders 1

  1. Right-click the cell where you want to paste (B4), and choose Paste Special.

copy paste without borders 2

  1. In the Paste Special window, check All except borders, and click OK.

copy paste without borders 3

As a result, cell B2 is copied to B4 with all formatting except borders.

copy paste without borders final

Tip: You can also use the Paste Special VBA functionality.

Copy and Paste Without Borders in Google Sheets

You can also copy and paste cells without borders in Google Sheets.

  1. Right-click the cell you want to copy (here, B2), and choose Copy (or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + C).

google sheets copy without borders

  1. Right-click the cell where you want to paste (B4). Then go to Paste special > Paste all except borders.

google sheets copy without borders 2

Finally, cell B2 is copied to B4 without borders.

google sheets copy without borders final

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