The Best Excel Keyboard Shortcuts You’re Not Using
March 18, 2007 Posted by Beth in : Tips , trackback,
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If you want to use Excel like a pro, you gotta use keyboard shortcuts (sometimes called hotkeys). If you don’t use Excel a lot, you may wonder, what’s the big deal about using a mouse? Does it really save that much time to keep your hands on the keyboard? In a word - yes. As a financial analyst recently told me, it can be the difference between going home at 9 pm and going home at midnight. (Although why you’d want to work a job that keeps you that long in the first place is a mystery to me….)
You may already know some common keyboard shortcuts, like Ctrl+C to copy or Ctrl+Z to undo. But maybe you don’t know the shortcuts listed below. At my day job, I teach people how to use Excel. These are the keyboard shortcuts that get the most “Oooooh!” responses in my classes.
MY PERSONAL FAVORITES
Edit a cell - F2
Already have something in a cell and just want to make changes? This is the same as double-clicking in the Formula bar and takes you to the end of your current cell contents.
Copy a formula down - Ctrl+D
Have a formula that you need to copy down to multiple cells in a column? Type the formula in the first cell of the list. Then, select the formula and all the blank cells to copy through (you can do this using Shift+Down arrow). Then press Ctrl+D. Presto! The picture below shows an example of what your sheet will look like after pressing Shift-Down.
Even better - do you have a column to the left of your formula, and you want to fill this formula down to the same row? Here’s the quick way: Enter your formula. Left Arrow once, so you’re in the first cell of the column to the left. Press Ctrl+Down Arrow, to move to the last cell. Right arrow once. Then, Ctrl+Shift+Up Arrow. You’ll have selected all blank cells plus the formula! Then Ctrl+D, and boom, it’s done. Get this key combo down solid, and it’ll become lightning fast.
Delete stuff - Ctrl+- (dash)
Add stuff - Ctrl+Shift + + (plus)
That last one is cool. Based on what you have selected (1 cell, 3 cells, a row, 2 columns, etc.), it will delete what you have selected or add it. If you don’t have a complete row or column selected, it’ll prompt you for whether you want to delete the selection or the whole row or column.
QUICKER WAYS OF DOING OTHER KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
Save As - F12
Select your entire data range - Ctrl+Shift+*
DID YOU KNOW HOW EASY IT WAS TO…?
Move between worksheets - Ctrl+PageUp and Ctrl+PageDown
Insert line breaks in a cell - Alt+Enter
Create a chart - F11 (Select all the cells to chart, then press F11. Bam!)
Insert a Worksheet - Shift + F11
Hide rows - Ctrl+9
Unhide rows - Ctrl+Shift+9
Hide columns - Ctrl+0
Unhide columns - Ctrl+Shift+0
Select row - Shift+Space
Select column - Ctrl+Space
Have your own favorite Excel keyboard shortcut you want to share? Tell us in the Comments!
If you liked this article, you should check out How-To: Customize Your Toolbars for Keyboard Shortcuts.
This article mostly applies to Windows versions of Office 2003 and earlier. Things may be different for other platforms and versions. Keyboard shortcuts are written using + to show when keys should be pressed at the same time.
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Comments»
It’s very nice cheat sheet.
BTY, I think
Select column - Ctrl+Space.
Please check it.
Thanks
Thanks for pointing that out! That’s what I get for proofing my own posts. I’ve fixed it in the article.
I use damn near every shortcut for ever Office product… one of the most USEFUL shortcuts is the “repeat last action” shortcut.
CTRL+Y
This will do ANYTHING again. Say you need to delete a row… then another row 4 lines down, then another row 3 lines down. Just select the first group, go through the process of right clicking and delete row. Then go to the next group, CTRL+Y and those disappear, too!
It’s a great tool for any action that needs to be repeated and has no keyboard shortcut. Just do it once, and so long as you do nothing else, it’s shortcut is CTRL+Y.
Adieu!
Forgot to add, it works in WORD, too.
Shawn - great tip! that is a very useful keyboard shortcut. F4 does the same thing. Technically, F4 is “repeat” and Ctrl+Y is “redo” but they almost always do the exact same thing.
By the way, Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y/F4 work in PowerPoint too.
Does anyone know why in Excel, the copy/paste function negates itself if you do anything else in the meantime, including print preview? I’m sure there is a reason, but it really annoys me….!?
Also, why are Word and Works documents not easily able to open each other?