Tutorials

50 Excel Shortcuts That You Should Know

Shortcuts Keys in MS Excel. Key shortcuts in excel Keyboard shortcuts in Excel help you process your data in the blink of an eye.

Microsoft Excel is widely used around the world for storing and analyzing data. Despite the many new data analysis tools on the market, Excel remains the ideal product for working with data. It has many built-in features, which make data organization easier.

Keyboard shortcuts in Excel help you process your data in the blink of an eye. In this article, we will discuss the various Excel shortcuts. These keyboard shortcuts are used to perform tasks faster and more efficiently.

What is Microsoft Excel?

While many of you are already familiar with Excel, let’s make a little introduction anyway. Microsoft Excel is an application developed by Microsoft that is used to record, analyze and visualize data. Excel, a spreadsheet application, was developed by Microsoft in 1985.

The data in Excel is in the form of rows and columns. Excel is commonly used to log and analyze data, perform mathematical operations, and view structured data in graphs and charts. Finally, another important Excel application is that it helps automate tasks via Excel macros.

To quickly perform the aforementioned tasks, Excel has a number of shortcuts. Various operations can be performed with a few simple keys. Let’s dive into the Excel shortcuts that can help us work better in an Excel spreadsheet.

shortcuts key in excel

Need for Excel Shortcuts

Excel supports a large number of keyboard shortcuts that allow you to work efficiently and increase productivity. Instead of accessing the toolbar with the mouse, two or three keystrokes are used to perform important functions. Isn’t it easier and time-saving? Using Excel shortcuts drastically increases speed and thus reduces working time.

Now the question is, if you have to memorize these shortcuts, the answer is no. However, it would be an advantage if you could remember some of them. With regular practice, you will be able to remember most of the common Excel shortcuts.

Now let’s take a look at the top 50 Excel shortcuts, which you should know when working in Microsoft Excel. In this article, we have classified 50 Excel shortcuts based on their operations. First, we will look at the shortcut keys of the workbook.

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Ribbon keyboard shortcuts

Excel ribbon key tips

The ribbon group affects the choice of a tab. For example, the House Numbers tab contains number options. When you press the Alt key, a short line called Key Tip appears as a thumbnail of the text next to tabs and options, as shown in the figure below.

You can combine keystrokes with the Alt key to create a shortcut called Ribbon Options Access Keys. For example, press Alt+H to open the Home tab and Alt+Q to tell me or search. Press Alt again to display the key information of the Options tab options.

Depending on the version of Office you’re using, the search form at the top of the app window will tell me. Both provide similar knowledge, but some options and search results may differ.

Workbook Shortcut Keys

In this section, we will understand the basics of how a workbook works. We’ll learn how to create a new workbook, open an existing workbook, and save a spreadsheet so you don’t lose any data or calculations you’ve made. So we will see how you can switch between multiple different sheets in a workbook.

Description Excel Shortcuts Keys
1. To create a new workbook Ctrl + N
2. To open an existing workbook Ctrl + O
3. To save a workbook/spreadsheet Ctrl + S
4. To close the current workbook Ctrl + W
5. To close Excel Ctrl + F4
6. To move to the next sheet Ctrl + PageDown
7. To move to the previous sheet Ctrl + PageUp
8. To go to the Data tab Alt + A
9. To go to the View tab Alt + W
10. To go the Formula tab Alt + M

Those were the Excel shortcuts Keys that can help you navigate through your spreadsheet. Once the workbook creation is done, the next key step is cell formatting.

Cell Formatting Shortcut Keys

A cell in Excel contains all the data you are working on. You can apply various shortcuts to a cell, such as editing a cell, aligning the cell contents adding a border to a cell. Key shortcuts in excel adding a border to all selected cells, and many more. Here is a preview of these Excel shortcuts Keys.

Description Excel Shortcuts Keys
11. To edit a cell F2
12. To copy and paste cells Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V
13. To italicize and make the font bold Ctrl + I, Ctrl + B
14. To center align cell contents Alt + H + A + C
15. To fill color Alt + H + H
16. To add a border Alt + H + B
17. To remove outline border Ctrl + Shift + _
18. To add an outline to the select cells Ctrl + Shift + &
19. To move to the next cell Tab
20. To move to the previous cell Shift + Tab
21. To select all the cells on the right Ctrl + Shift + Right arrow
22. To select all the cells on the left Ctrl + Shift + Left Arrow
23. To select the column from the selected cell to the end of the table Ctrl + Shift + Down Arrow
24. To select all the cells above the selected cell Ctrl + Shift + Up Arrow
25. To select all the cells below the selected cell Ctrl + Shift + Down Arrow

 

In addition to the above-mentioned cell formatting shortcuts, let’s look at a few more additional and advanced cell formatting Excel shortcuts Keys, that might come handy.

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Description Excel Shortcuts Keys
26. To add a comment to a cell Shift + F2
27. To delete a cell comment Shift + F10 + D
28. To display find and replace Ctrl + H
29. To activate the filter Ctrl + Shift + L

Alt + Down Arrow

30. To insert the current date Ctrl + ;
31. To insert current time Ctrl + Shift + :
32. To insert a hyperlink Ctrl + k
33. To apply the currency format Ctrl + Shift + $
34. To apply the percent format Ctrl + Shift + %
35. To go to the “Tell me what you want to do” box Alt + Q

After working with cell formatting Ems excel shortcuts keys, the next step is to understand how to work with an entire row/column in Excel.

Row and Column Formatting Shortcut Keys

In this section, we’ll look at some critical row and column formatting shortcuts.

We will understand how to delete rows and columns. key shortcuts in excel hide and unhide the selected rows and columns, and group and ungroup rows and columns.

Description ms excel shortcuts key
36. To select the entire row Shift + Space
37. To select the entire column Ctrl + Space
38. To delete a column Alt+H+D+C
39. To delete a row Shift + Space, Ctrl + –
40. To hide selected row Ctrl + 9
41. To unhide selected row Ctrl + Shift + 9
42. To hide a selected column Ctrl + 0
43. To unhide a selected column Ctrl + Shift + 0
44. To group rows or columns Alt + Shift + Right arrow
45. To ungroup rows or columns Alt + Shift + Left arrow

Now that we’ve discussed the different keyboard shortcuts for formatting cells, rows, and columns, it’s time to start understanding an advanced topic in Excel – managing pivot tables. ms excel shortcuts key shortcuts in excel Let’s take a look at the different shortcuts for summarizing your data using a pivot table.

Pivot Table Shortcut Keys

First, let’s create a pivot table using a sales dataset.

In the image below, you can see that we have a pivot table to summarize the total sales of each product sub-category in each category

46. To group pivot table items Alt + Shift + Right arrow

The image below depicts that we have grouped the sales of bookcases and chairs subcategories into Group 1.

47. To ungroup pivot table items Alt + Shift + Left arrow
48. To hide pivot table items Ctrl + –

 

49. To create a pivot chart on the same sheet Alt + F1
50. To create a pivot chart on a new worksheet F11

 

Conclusion

Excel shortcuts keys will help you create reports and analyzes faster and better. After reading this article, you will have understood the different types of ms excel shortcuts key keys related to workbook, cell formatting, ms excel shortcuts key row and column formatting, and pivot tables.

We hope that you will find these tricks useful and that you can easily master these hotkeys by working regularly in ms excel shortcuts key . Do you have any questions related to this article? If so, include it in the comment section of the article and our experts will contact you as soon as possible.

Other useful shortcuts key in excel

Key Description
Alt
  • Displays the Key Tips (new shortcuts) on the ribbon.

For example,

  • Alt, W, P switches the worksheet to Page Layout view.
  • Alt, W, L switches the worksheet to Normal view.
  • I, Alt, W switches the worksheet to Page Break Preview view.
Arrow keys
  • Move one cell up, down, left, or right in a worksheet.
  • Ctrl+Arrow key moves to the edge of the current data region in a worksheet.
  • Shift+Arrow key extends the selection of cells by one cell.
  • Ctrl+Shift+Arrow key extends the selection of cells to the last nonblank cell in the same column or row as the active cell, or if the next cell is blank, extends the selection to the next nonblank cell.
  • Left or Right arrow key selects the tab to the left or right when the ribbon is selected. When a submenu is open or selected, these arrow keys switch between the main menu and the submenu. When a ribbon tab is selected, these keys navigate the tab buttons.
  • Down or Up arrow key selects the next or previous command when a menu or submenu is open. When a ribbon tab is selected, these keys navigate up or down the tab group.
  • In a dialog box, arrow keys move between options in an open drop-down list, or between options in a group of options.
  • Down or Alt+Down arrow key opens a selected drop-down list.
Backspace
  • Deletes one character to the left in the formula bar.
  • Clears the content of the active cell.
  • In cell editing mode, it deletes the character to the left of the insertion point.
Delete
  • Removes the cell contents (data and formulas) from selected cells without affecting cell formats, threaded comments, or notes.
  • In cell editing mode, it deletes the character to the right of the insertion point.
End
  • End turns End mode on or off. In End mode, you can press an arrow key to move to the next nonblank cell in the same column or row as the active cell. End mode turns off automatically after pressing the arrow key. Make sure to press End again before pressing the next arrow key. End mode is shown in the status bar when it is on.
  • If the cells are blank, pressing End followed by an arrow key moves to the last cell in the row or column.
  • End also selects the last command on the menu when a menu or submenu is visible.
  • Ctrl+End moves to the last cell on a worksheet, to the lowest used row of the rightmost used column. If the cursor is in the formula bar, Ctrl+End moves the cursor to the end of the text.
  • Ctrl+Shift+End extends the selection of cells to the last used cell on the worksheet (lower-right corner). If the cursor is in the formula bar, Ctrl+Shift+End selects all text in the formula bar from the cursor position to the end—this does not affect the height of the formula bar.
Enter
  • Completes a cell entry from the cell or the formula bar and selects the cell below (by default).
  • In a data form, it moves to the first field in the next record.
  • Opens a selected menu (press F10 to activate the menu bar) or performs the action for a selected command.
  • In a dialog box, it performs the action for the default command button in the dialog box (the button with the bold outline, often the OK button).
  • Alt+Enter starts a new line in the same cell.
  • Ctrl+Enter fills the selected cell range with the current entry.
  • Shift+Enter completes a cell entry and selects the cell above.
Esc
  • Cancels an entry in the cell or formula bar.
  • Closes an open menu or submenu, dialog box, or message window.
  • It also closes full screen mode when this mode has been applied and returns to normal screen mode to display the ribbon and status bar again.
Home
  • Moves to the beginning of a row in a worksheet.
  • Moves to the cell in the upper-left corner of the window when Scroll lock is turned on.
  • Selects the first command on the menu when a menu or submenu is visible.
  • Ctrl+Home moves to the beginning of a worksheet.
  • Ctrl+Shift+Home extends the selection of cells to the beginning of the worksheet.
Page down
  • Moves one screen down in a worksheet.
  • Alt+Page down moves one screen to the right in a worksheet.
  • Ctrl+Page down moves to the next sheet in a workbook.
  • Ctrl+Shift+Page down selects the current and next sheet in a workbook.
Page up
  • Moves one screen up in a worksheet.
  • Alt+Page up moves one screen to the left in a worksheet.
  • Ctrl+Page up moves to the previous sheet in a workbook.
  • Ctrl+Shift+Page up selects the current and previous sheet in a workbook.
Shift
  • Hold the Shift key while you drag a selected row, column, or selected cells to move the selected cells and drop to insert them in a new location.
Spacebar
  • In a dialog box, performs the action for the selected button, or selects or clears a checkbox.
  • Ctrl+Spacebar selects an entire column in a worksheet.
  • Shift+Spacebar selects an entire row in a worksheet.
  • Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar selects the entire worksheet.
  • If the worksheet contains data, Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar selects the current region. Pressing Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar a second time selects the current region and its summary rows. Pressing Ctrl+Shift+Space bar a third time selects the entire worksheet.
  • When an object is selected, Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar selects all objects on a worksheet.
  • Alt+Spacebar displays the Control menu for the Excel window.
Tab key
  • Move one cell to the right in a worksheet.
  • Move between unlocked cells in a protected worksheet.
  • Moves to the next option or option group in a dialog box.
  • Shift+Tab moves to the previous cell in a worksheet or the previous option in a dialog box.
  • Ctrl+Tab switches to the next tab in a dialog box, or (if no dialog box is open) switches between two Excel windows.
  • Ctrl+Shift+Tab switches to the previous tab in a dialog box, or (if no dialog box is open) switches between all Excel windows.

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