Many business professionals spend countless hours daily. In this post, we review the essential shortcuts you need to work faster in Excel.
Many business professionals spend countless hours daily. In this post, we review the essential shortcuts you need to work faster in Excel. We cover these extensively throughout our Excel training & classes in NYC.
Core Shortcuts
These entry-level shortcuts are the absolute necessities for any Excel user.
- CTRL + Z : Undo
- CTRL + Y : Redo
- CTRL + S : Save
- F12 : Save As
- CTRL + P : Print
- CTRL + N : Open new workbook
- CTR + W : Close current workbook
- CTRL + C : Copy
- CTRL + X : Cut
- CTRL + V : Paste
- CTRL + F : Find
- CTRL + H : Find & Replace
- CTRL + T : Create a table
- CTRL + A : Highlight a selection
Core Formatting Shortcuts
- CTRL + 1 : Brings up the format dialog box
- CTRL + I : Italicize
- CTRL + B : Bold
- CTRL + U : Underline
- CTR + 5 : Strikethrough
- CTRL + Shift + ~ : Apply general format
- CTRL + Shift + % : Apply % format
- CTRL + Shift + $ : Apply currency format
- CTRL + Shift + # : Apply date format
- CTRL + Shift + ! : Apply number format
Navigation & Selection Shortcuts - "Outside" the Cell
- Arrow Key : Move to next cell
- CTRL + Arrow Key : Jump to end of data region
- CTRL + Right Arrow : Jump to the right of the data region
- CTRL + Left Arrow : Jump to the left of the data region
- CTRL + Down Arrow : Jump to the bottom of the data region
- CTRL + Up Arrow: Jump to top of the data region
- Shift + Arrow Key : Select contiguous cells
- CTRL + Shift + Arrow : Jump and highlight a region of cells
- Home : Move to beginning of row
- CTRL + Home : Move to first cell in a worksheet
- CTRL + End : Move to last cell in a worksheet
- CTRL + Page Up : Move to the previous worksheet
- CTRL + Page Down : Move to next worksheet
Navigation & Selection Shortcuts - "Inside" the Cell (cell edit mode)
- Backspace : Delete a character to the left
- Delete : Delete a character to the right
- Alt + Enter : Line break within a cell
- CTRL + Arrow Key : Jump to the next word
- CTRL + Right Arrow : Jump to the right one word
- CTRL + Left Arrow : Jump to the left one word
- Shift + Arrow Key : Select contiguous characters
- CTRL + Shift + Arrow : Jump and highlight words
- Home : Move to beginning of cell
- End : Move to end of cell
Cell Auditing & Calculation Shortcuts
- F2 : Edit a cell
- ESC : Escape the current cell
- F4 : Lock (anchor) a cell
- F9 : Refresh the worksheet
- CTRL + [ : Trace Precedents
- CTRL + ] : Trace Dependents
- CTRL + ~ : Show formulas