Whether you’re an excel rookie or a black belt, keyboard shortcuts are one of the fundamental things you should learn. If you can master just a few of the excel keyboard shortcuts in this post, you will immediately notice a difference in the speed and efficiency you use excel.
Don’t expect yourself to learn every single excel keyboard shortcut though; always strive for quality and not quantity. I’d rather you master 4 or 5 shortcuts you feel will make the most impact than to be familiar with 12 or 13 of them. You’ll never master them that way and you won’t get much out of this.
My suggestion is to start by choosing 3 shortcuts that you find most useful; ones that would add the most efficiency to your day-to-day. Use those shortcuts every single day at every opportunity; learn through repetition and master through consistent habit. Eventually, you’ll notice yourself naturally using those shortcuts without much thought. Once this happens, learn a few more and repeat the process.
Before you realize it, people will be watching you in awe and disbelief while you operate excel from just your keyboard. The list below includes some of the shortcuts I find that are most useful to me and to anyone I’ve helped learn excel.
|
Description |
Keyboard Shortcut |
| Delete Row/Column | Highlight Row/Column then Ctrl + ‘-‘ |
| New Workbook | Ctrl + N |
| Close Active Workbook | Ctrl + W |
| Undo | Ctrl + Z (My Life Saver) |
| Insert Row/Column | Highlight Row/Column then Ctrl + ‘+’ |
| Find | Ctrl + F |
| Save as | F12 |
| Find and Replace | Ctrl + H |
| Insert Hyperlink | Ctrl + K |
| Repeat last action | Ctrl + Y |
| Paste Values | After pasting data (Ctrl + V), press Ctrl then ‘V’ sequentially |
| Move to edge of data region | Ctrl + Arrow Key |
| Move to first cell in worksheet | Ctrl + Home |
| Switch between tabs | Ctrl + PgUp/PgDn |
| Highlight Multiple Cells | Shift + Arrow Key |
| Extend selection to edge of data region | Shift + Ctrl + Arrow Key |
| Select non-adjacent cells | Ctrl + Click |
| Select Visible Cells in a data set | Highlight then Alt + ; |
| Highlight Entire Row | Shift + Space |
| Highlight Entire Column | Ctrl + Space |
| Autocomplete the function name.
For example, when you start typing a function (ie. ‘=VLOO’) excel will suggest a function to use. Hit Tab and excel will complete the function and enter an open parenthesis (ie. ‘=VLOOKUP(‘ ) |
Press Tab on your keyboard when you begin typing a function and excel displays the suggested functions dialogue box. |
| Toggle Absolute vs. Relative Reference | F4 while entering formula and you have cursor on the cell reference |
| Open the paste special dialogue box
This is the dialogue box that appears when you perform a paste special. |
Ctrl + Shift + V |
| Open Formatting Dialogue Box | Ctrl + 1 |
| Toggle between displaying cell values and formulas. | Ctrl + ` |
| Use Bold, Italics, Underline | Ctrl + B (Bold)
Ctrl + I (Italics) Ctrl + U (Underline) |
| Number Formatting | Ctrl + Shift + ~ (General)
Ctrl + Shift + $ (Currency) Ctrl + Shift + % (Percentage) Ctrl + Shift + ^ (Scientific) Ctrl + Shift + # (Date) Ctrl + Shift + @ (Time) Ctrl + Shift +! (Number) |