Microsoft Excel keyboard shortcuts you need to master

How-to
By
last updated

Do you find using a mouse to manage your Excel worksheet a bit of an annoyance? Would you rather command it from your keyboard? Then you need to learn about keyboard shortcuts.

There are quite a few command and customization options in Excel that can be accessed through the Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar. Did you know that you can quickly find and execute command functions from your QWERTY companion? Here a list of some of the keyboard shortcuts that will save you a mouse click or two.

Cell navigation

  • Home — Moves the cursor to the beginning of the row.
  • Ctrl + Home — Moves the cursor to the top left cell of the worksheet.
  • Ctrl + End — Moves the cursor to the last cell of the worksheet that contains content.
  • Ctrl + G and type cell reference — Goes to the cell at the intersection of the reference. CTRL + G then B10 goes to column B, row 10.
  • Ctrl + G — Displays the Go To dialog box.
  • arrow keys — Moves the cursor one cell in the selected direction.
  • Ctrl + arrow keys — Moves the cursor to the last cell with data in the selected direction.
  • Tab — Moves the cursor one cell to the right in a worksheet.
  • Shift + Tab — Moves the cursor one cell to the left in a worksheet.
  • Alt + Page Down — Moves the worksheet one page to the right.
  • Alt + Page Up — Moves the worksheet one page to the left.
  • Page Down — Moves the worksheet view one screen down.
  • Page Up — Moves the worksheet view one screen up.
  • Ctrl + W — Closes the active workbook.
  • Ctrl + . — Moves to the corner of the selected cells. Continuous use will move the cursor in a clockwise manner between corners.
  • Ctrl + Tab — Swap between open worksheets.
  • Ctrl + Shift + Tab — Move to the previous open worksheet.

Copy, Paste, Cut and Insert

  • Shift + F11 — Insert a new worksheet.
  • Ctrl + C — Copy contents of a cell to the clipboard.
  • Ctrl + V — Paste contents from a copied cell from a clipboard.
  • Ctrl + X — Cut cells to the clipboard.
  • Ctrl + Y — Repeat the last action.
  • Ctrl + D — Insert content in the selected cell from the cell above it. If a row has been selected, then the row will be duplicated in the row below.
  • Ctrl + R — Insert content in the selected cell from the cell to the left. If a column has been selected, then the column will be duplicated in the column to the right.
  • F11 — Create a new worksheet.
  • Ctrl + U — Apply or remove an underline.
  • Ctrl + B or Ctrl +2 — Apply or remove bold font
  • Ctrl + I or Ctrl + 3 — Apply or remove the italicize the font
  • Ctrl + ; — Inserts the current date into the cell.
  • Ctrl + ' — Duplicate the formula from the cell above the selected cell.
  • Ctrl + + — Pastes the copied cell ad pushed the content down or to the right.
  • Ctrl+ Alt + V — Opens the Paste Special window.

##Managing your Workbook

  • Ctrl + S — Save your work in progress.
  • Ctrl + Shift + S — Enables the save your work as command.
  • F12 — Save the file through the save dialog box.
  • Alt+ F then A — Save through the Excel file manager.
  • Ctrl + O — Open an existing file through the open dialog box
  • Alt + F, then O — Open an existing file with the Excel file manager.
  • Ctrl + P — Print, displays printing options.
  • Ctrl + Page Down or Page Up — Navigate between worksheets in the current workbook.
  • Alt + H then OT — Allows you to change the worksheet tab color.
  • Alt + H then OM — Move the Worksheet.
  • Alt + H then OR — Rename the Worksheet.
  • Alt + H then IS — Insert a Worksheet.
  • Alt + H then DS — Delete a Worksheet.
  • Ctrl + F1 — Hide or display the Excel Ribbon.
  • F7 — Initiates the spell check function.
  • Ctrl + Shift + F3 — Creates names from your column and row labels.
  • Ctrl + F6 — Swap between open workbooks.
  • Shift + F10, O, O then Enter — Opens a hyperlink.
  • Ctrl + K — Insert or edit a hyperlink.
  • Shift + F10 then R — Remove a hyperlink.
  • Shift +F2 — Insert a comment.
  • Shift + F10 then M — Delete a comment.
  • Ctrl + Shift + O — Select cells with comments.
  • Escape + arrow keys — Moves a comment (when viewing a comment).
  • Escape, Escape — Cancel comment editing, returning to the cell.

Selecting cells

  • Ctrl + A — Select the entire sheet.
  • Shift + Spacebar — Select an entire row.
  • Ctrl + Spacebar — Select an entire column.
  • Shift + up arrow — Increase the selection by one cell upward.
  • Shift + down arrow — Increase the selection by one cell downward.
  • Ctrl + Shift +arrow keys — Increase the selection to the last cell with data.
  • Alt + ; — Select only the visible cells in the current selection.

Formatting cells

  • Ctrl + Alt + V, T then Enter — After coping with Ctrl + C, paste the format of the copied cell to the new cell.
  • Alt + Enter — Repeat the last cell format on the selected cell.
  • Ctrl +1 — The format cell dialog box is opened with the last used selection active.
  • Ctrl + Shift + F — The cell format dialog box is opened with the font tab active.
  • Ctrl + 5 — Adds or removes the strikethrough formatting.
  • Ctrl + Shift + ~ — Applies the general number formatting.
  • Ctrl + Shift + 1 — Applies the number format with the thousands separator and two decimal places.
  • Ctrl + Shift + 2 — Applies the hour and minute time format with AM and PM.
  • Ctrl + Shift + 3 — Applies the day, month and year date format.
  • Ctrl + Shift + 4 — Applies the Currency format with 2 decimal places.
  • Ctrl + Shift + 5 — Applies decimal format.
  • Ctrl + Shift + 6 — Applies the scientific number format.
  • Alt + H then HC — Select a color to fill the cell.
  • Alt + H, HC then N — Select No fill color.
  • Alt + H then FC — Select a font color.
  • Alt + H, then FF — The font face section of the ribbon is selected. The user can enter the name of the font to use or use the up and down arrows to navigate to it.
  • Alt + H then W — Wraps and unwraps text.
  • Alt + H then MM — Merge cells.
  • Alt + H then MU — Unmerge cells
  • Alt + H then MC — Merge and then center.
  • Alt + H then MA — Merge all columns in your selection.
  • Alt + H then AL — Aligns characters to the left.
  • Alt + H then AR — Aligns characters to the right.
  • Alt + H then AC — Aligns characters to the center.
  • Alt + H then AT — Aligns characters to the top.
  • Alt + H then AM — Aligns characters to the middle.
  • Alt + H then AB — Aligns characters to the bottom.

Managing Formulas

  • **= - begins a formula.
  • Ctrl + Shift + U — Expands or collapses the formula bar.
  • F4 — Makes a cell reference absolute.
  • Shift + F3 — On an empty cell, it displays the Insert Function dialog box. On a cell with a formula, it allows for the editing of the formula argument.
  • Alt + H, FD then U — All formulas in the worksheet are selected.
  • Ctrl + ~ — Shows and hides all formulas. Column widths are extended and retracted as well.
  • Ctrl + ' — Duplicate the formula from the cell above the selected cell.
  • Ctrl + A — Displays the formula builder.
  • F3 — Paste named range in a formula.
  • Ctrl + Backspace — Allows you to move from the formula being edited and return without altering the formula.

Find and Replace

  • Ctrl + F — Displays the find and replace dialog box. The find option is selected.
  • Ctrl + H — Displays the find and replace dialog box. The replace option is selected.
  • Alt + F — Locates the next match while the find dialog box is active.
  • Alt + I — Locates all matches while the find dialog box is active.
  • Shift + F4 — Find the next match with the dialog box closed.
  • Ctrl + Shift + F4 — Find the previous match with the dialog box closed.

Wrapping up

These are but a selection of the keyboard shortcuts that are available in Excel. If you're the kind who prefers clicking keys over mouse buttons, you'll find that using shortcuts will help you get your project or report done in less time. Do you use keyboard shortcuts in Excel? What are most commonly used shortcuts? Let us know!

  • Microsoft Office 101: Help, how-tos and tutorials
Ryan Blundell
Ryan Blundell