Excel Shortcuts
Using shortcuts in Excel is considered one of the most effective methods for saving tremendous amounts of time, as well as improving your Excel skills.
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Apple user? Click here to view Excel Shortcuts for Mac
Here are some of the most popular shortcuts for Excel for Windows users:
Working with rows/columns/ranges
Ctrl + Space – Select the whole column
Shift + Space – Select the whole row
Ctrl + A / Ctrl + Shift + Space – Select all (Click once to select the current range, click twice to select the entire worksheet)
Ctrl + Shift + Arrow keys – Select a range – from the selected cell to the end of the range
Ctrl + Arrow keys – Go the end of the range
Alt + ; (Semicolon) – Select visible cell only
Ctrl + – (Minus) – Delete cells/ rows/ columns
Ctrl + Shift + = – Insert cells/rows/columns
Working with Workbooks/Worksheets
CTRL + N – Open a new Workbook
Ctrl + O – Open an existing Workbook
Ctrl + S – Save Workbook (Or Save As, if it’s the first time you’re saving it)
F12 – Save As (Even if you already saved it!)
CTRL + P – Print
CTRL + F4 / CTRL + W – Close Workbook
ALT + F4 – Close Excel (All workbooks)
Shift + F11 – Add a new Worksheet
Data entry
Ctrl + : (Colon) – Today’s date
Ctrl + Shift + : (Colon) – Current time
Ctrl + D – Copy the cell above
Ctrl + R – Copy the cell to the left
F2 – Edit cell / view cell formula
F4 – (When editing a specific cell) Apply absolute/mixed/relative reference (For example, cell C4 will change to $C$4 – Absolute Reference)
F7 – Open the spelling tool
CTRL + E – Flash Fill – One of Excel’s greatest tools for auto-completing data based on examples from adjacent cells.
Ctrl + C – Copy
Ctrl + V – Paste
Ctrl + X – Cut
Ctrl + Shift + V – Paste Special
Formulas
Ctrl + ~ (Tilde) – Shows all the formulas in the sheet
F4 – (When a cell is not being edited) Repeats the last action
Ctrl + Shift + Enter -Apply an array formula
Ctrl + T – Define range as data table
Alt + = – Quick sum
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Navigation
Ctrl + F – Find
Ctrl + H – Find and Replace
Ctrl + PgUp/PgDn – Navigate between sheets
Ctrl + Z – Undo last action
Ctrl + Y – Redo (Ctrl + Z)
Ctrl + [ – Takes you to the cell referenced by the formula
Ctrl + ] – Takes you to the cell which is affected by the current cell
F5 , then Enter (not together) – Takes you back to where you were before using ctrl + [
Ctrl + Home / Ctrl + End – Go to the first cell in worksheet (A1) / Go to the last cell in the used range
Ctrl + Arrow Keys – Go to the last non-empty cell (Stops when you reach an empty cell)
Shift + Arrow Keys – Select cells in the direction of the Arrow Keys (One at a time)
Ctrl + Shift + Arrow Keys – Select cells until the last non-empty cell (Stops when you reach an empty cell)
Scroll Lock – Disable Scrolling in your Excel Workbook. Usually helpful when the Workbook is not scrolling. Click here to read more about how to disable it if you don’t have Scroll Lock key on your keyboard.
Cell editing
Please note – These shortcuts will work when editing a specific cell. If you try these shortcuts when you’re not editing a cell, they will work differently!
F2 – Edit the selected cell (instead of double-clicking it)
Shift + F2 – Add a comment
Alt + Enter – Line break – Start a new line in the current cell
HOME – Go to the beginning of the current row within the cell which is being edited
Ctrl + HOME – Go to the beginning of the edited cell
END – Go to the end of the current row within the cell which is being edited
Ctrl + END – Go to the end of the edited cell
F9 – Shows the result of the function/part of it (Based on what is selected)
Cell Formatting
Ctrl + 1 – Open Cell Formatting window
CTRL + B – Bold text
CTRL + U – Underlined Text
CTRL + I – Italic Text
Ctrl + 5 – Strikethrough
Other important shortcuts
Ctrl + Shift + L – Apply filtering on the current range
ALT + F11 – Open Visual Basic Editor
