The Concise Guide to Time Saving Excel Shortcuts.

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Excel Training Reviews

How Do I Learn Excel Shortcut Keys?

You can learn Excel shortcut keys at your own pace by studying our categorised lists of shortcuts and by also listening to their accompanying free Excel shortcut exercises in the form of 'listen and repeat' memory assistant audio files. We also provide a free Excel shortcuts PDF cheatsheet to download.

The Aa-Zz and 1-100 of Excel Shortcuts.

Mastering shortcut keys in Microsoft Excel is your passport to lightning fast productivity, giving you much more control over your data and much more time to analyse, forecast and make decisions based upon your data.

If you've ever been told that you'd never get anywhere in life by taking shortcuts, then Microsoft Excel is the digital proof that this advice is wrong! In fact, when it comes to finding more efficient ways of doing things such as shortcuts, Bill Gates himself has the following to say:

I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.

This ethos runs through the sinews and veins of Microsoft Excel with its abundance of shortcut keys which make it straightforward to achieve a lot in a relatively short period of time.

Bookmark this page if you want to work faster and use this as your Excel shortcut key bible.

Excel Shortcut Keys Menu: Organised By Category

Here is our list of some of the most useful shortcut keys that will save you time entering, processing and presenting your Excel spreadsheet data and turning it into meaningful, actionable information.

Tip: If you are using a 365 Online version of Excel, some browser shortcuts may take precedence over Excel shortcuts depending upon the web browser you are using. For the best results, a desktop version of Excel would be preferable.

1. CTRL and Letter Excel Shortcut Keys
   
   
2. CTRL and Punctuation Excel Shortcut Keys
   
   
3. CTRL and Number Excel Shortcut Keys
   
   
4. FUNCTION Excel Shortcut Keys
   
   
5. SHIFT and FUNCTION Excel Shortcut Keys
   
   
6. CTRL and FUNCTION Excel Shortcut Keys
   
   
7. CTRL SHIFT and Letter Excel Shortcut Keys
   
   
8. CTRL SHIFT and Punctuation Excel Shortcut Keys
   
   
9. ALT and Letter Excel Shortcut Keys
   
   
10. ALT and Double Letter Excel Shortcut Keys
    
    
11. ALT and Triple Letter Excel Shortcut Keys
    
    
12. ALT and Number Excel Shortcut Keys
    
    
13. ALT and Punctuation Excel Shortcut Keys
    
    
14. ALT and FUNCTION Excel Shortcut Keys
    
    

When learning these Excel shortcuts we recommend that you learn them by the categories as we have set them out. For instance, if you learn all the CTRL SHIFT shortcuts together then eventually muscle memory will go a long way to helping you go for the right shortcut keys every time, and the same goes for all the other categories too.

Categorising Excel shortcuts in this way does however have some drawbacks. For instance, it means that the shortcut for entering the present time into a cell (CTRL SHIFT :) is not in the same category as the shortcut for entering the present date into a cell (CTRL ;). This is also the case for a few other naturally paired Excel shortcuts; however, if you learn each category one at a time, then a wider selection of Excel shortcuts will eventually become second nature.

CTRL and Letter Excel Shortcut Keys

1. Select ALL workbook contents: CTRL A
2. Make content in selected cells Bold: CTRL B
3. Copy highlighted cells: CTRL C
4. Copy formula from the cell above to the selected cells in a column: CTRL D
5. Invoke Flash Fill: CTRL E (Excel 2013 and onwards only)
6. Open the Find dialog: CTRL F
7. Open Go To: CTRL G
8. Find and Replace: CTRL H
9. Make the contents of a cell italic: CTRL I
10. Set the delimiter for converting multi-line text in the Text to Column Wizard (See also ALT Enter): CTRL J
11. Insert a Hyperlink: CTRL K
12. Open the Create Table Dialog: CTRL L
13. Create a New Workbook: CTRL N
14. Open a Workbook: CTRL O
15. Print a Workbook: CTRL P
16. Show Quick Analysis options for the selected cells (newer versions of Excel only): CTRL Q
17. Copy formula from the cell to the side into the selected cells in a row: CTRL R
18. Save Your Worksheet: CTRL S
19. Format selected cells as a table (open the Create Table dialog): CTRL T
20. Underline selected cells: CTRL U
21. Paste into the selected cell or area: CTRL V
22. Close the current workbook: CTRL W
23. Cut the content of selected cells: CTRL X
24. ReDo: CTRL Y
25. UnDo: CTRL Z

Listen whilst you read to help you commit these Excel Shortcuts to memory (audio length: 2 minutes and 49 seconds)

CTRL and Punctuation Excel Shortcut Keys

26. Enter the present date: CTRL ;
27. Switch between displaying values and displaying formulas: CTRL ‘
28. Copy the formula from the cell above: CTRL ’
29. Delete selected columns or rows: CTRL −
30. Apply date formatting to selected cells: CTRL #
31. Select a whole column (selects multiple columns in older versions): CTRL SPACEBAR
32. Go To Cell A1: CTRL HOME
33. Go to top cell in a column: CTRL ↑
34. Go to bottom cell in a column: CTRL ↓
35. Go to the last cell in a row: CTRL →
36. Go to the first cell in a row: CTRL ←
37. Jump right 13 columns: CTRL Page Down
38. Jump left 13 columns: CTRL Page Up

Listen whilst you read to help you commit these Excel Shortcuts to memory (audio length: 1 minutes and 50 seconds)

CTRL and Number Excel Shortcut Keys

39. Hide Selected Columns: CTRL 0
40. Open the format cells dialog box: CTRL 1
41. Strike through data in a cell: CTRL 5 (this creates the effect of crossing out a cell's contents whilst leaving its value unaffected)
42. Hide Selected Rows: CTRL 9

Listen whilst you read to help you commit these Excel Shortcuts to memory (audio length: 49 seconds)

FUNCTION Excel Shortcut Keys

43. Open Help: F1
44. Edit a cell: F2
45. Paste a cell name: F3
46. Repeat the last action (e.g. formatting a cell): F4
47. Open the GoTo dialog: F5
48. If you have split Panes in your Excel worksheet this will move along to the next pane: F6
49. Open the Spell Checker: F7
50. Extend the Selection: F8 (then use your arrow keys to create the selection that you desire)
51. Open Accessibility navigation shortcuts (or key tips): F10
52. Create a Chart Area in a new worksheet: F11
53. Save As: F12

Listen whilst you read to help you commit these Excel Shortcuts to memory (audio length: 1 minute and 20 seconds)

SHIFT and FUNCTION Excel Shortcut Keys

54. Open Help (Works in Office 365): SHIFT F1
55. Insert a comment: SHIFT F2
56. Open the Insert Function dialog box: SHIFT F3
57. Open the Find and Replace dialog: SHIFT F5
58. Open the Research dialog to search the Theasaurus and Dictionaries: SHIFT F7
59. Add to Selection: SHIFT F8 (This allows you to select non-contiguous or non-adjacent cell ranges)
60. Calculate an Active Workbook: SHIFT F9
61. Open the shortcut Context Menu dropdown: SHIFT F10 (The same as right-mouse-click)
62. Open a new Worksheet: SHIFT F11
63. Save your Workbook: SHIFT F12

Listen whilst you read to help you commit these Excel Shortcuts to memory (audio length: 1 minutes and 28 seconds)

CTRL and FUNCTION Excel Shortcut Keys

64. Expand/Collapse the Ribbon: CTRL F1
65. Open Print Preview: CTRL F2
66. Open the Name Manager: CTRL F3
67. Close and Save the Workbook: CTRL F4
68. Restore the initial Window size of a Worksheet: CTRL F5
69. Jump forward between open Workbooks: CTRL F6
70. Reposition a minimised or re-sized Workbook: CTRL F7 (Use the arrow keys to move the Workbook)
71. Re-size the current Workbook: CTRL F8 (Use the arrow keys to change the dimensions)
72. Minimise the active workbook to just an icon: CTRL F9 (use SHIFT and R to restore / UnDo)
73. Add a Macro Worksheet to the active Workbook: CTRL F11
74. Opens the Open a new document dialog box: CTRL F12

Listen whilst you read to help you commit these Excel Shortcuts to memory (audio length: 1 minutes and 28 seconds)

CTRL SHIFT and Letter Excel Shortcut Keys

75. Apply text formatting to selected cells (opens the Format Cells dialog): CTRL SHIFT F
76. Select cells which contain comments: CTRL SHIFT O
77. Change Font Size on selected cells: CTRL SHIFT P

CTRL SHIFT and Punctuation Excel Shortcut Keys

78. Enter the present time: CTRL SHIFT :
79. Insert columns or rows: CTRL SHIFT =
80. Apply time formatting to selected cells: CTRL SHIFT @
81. Split 100s and 1000s with a comma (e.g. 50,000): CTRL SHIFT !
82. Format selected cells as currency (shows pound sterling on EN-UK keyboards): CTRL SHIFT $
83. Format selected cells as percentages: CTRL SHIFT %
84. Format selected cells with a border: CTRL SHIFT &
85. Remove border formatting from selected cells: CTRL SHIFT _
86. Select an entire workbook: CTRL SHIFT SPACEBAR
87. Scroll between workbooks: CTRL SHIFT TAB

ALT and Letter Excel Shortcut Keys

88. Open Accessibility Keys on the Ribbon: ALT
89. Go to the Data Tab: ALT A
90. Go to the Home Tab: ALT H
91. Go to the Formulas Tab: ALT M
92. Go to the Insert Tab: ALT N
93. Go to the Page Layout Tab: ALT P
94. Go to Search: ALT Q
95. Go to the Review Tab: ALT R
96. Go to the View Tab: ALT W
97. Go to the Help Tab: ALT Y

ALT and Double Letter Excel Shortcut Keys

98. Delete Data from selected cells: ALT AD
99. Text to Columns: ALT AE
100. Data Validation: ALT AV
101. Advanced filtering: ALT AQ
102. Get External Data from Microsoft Access: ALT AX
103. Open Find and Replace: ALT EE
104. Open Paste Special: ALT ES
105. Save As: ALT FA
106. Close Workbook: ALT FC
107. Open Excel customisation options: ALT F T
108. Exit Microsoft Excel: ALT FX
109. Add a border to a cell: ALT H B
110. Open Colour Fill: ALT HH
111. Insert Column: ALT IC
112. Insert Row: ALT IR
113. Show all Comments: ALT RA
114. Insert a Comment: ALT RC
115. Open Research Dialog Theasaurus: ALT RE
116. Open Track Changes: ALT RG
117. SpellCheck: ALT RS
118. Go to Previous Comment: ALT RV
119. Open Custom Views: ALT WC
120. View Full Screen: ALT WE
121. View Split Screen: ALT WS

ALT and Triple Letter Excel Shortcut Keys

122. Clear Cell Contents: ALT AEC
123. Get External Data from text file: ALT AFT
124. Get External Data from HTML source: ALT AFW
125. Sort Ascending: ALT ASA
126. Sort Descending: ALT ASD
127. Custom Sort: ALT ASS
128. Clear Cell formats: ALT EAF
129. Save and Send: ALT FDA
130. Freeze Panes: ALT WFF

ALT and Number Excel Shortcut Keys

131. Switch on AutoSave: ALT 1
132. Open Previous Actions: ALT 2

ALT and Punctuation Excel Shortcut Keys

133. Calculate Autosum from selected cells: ALT , =
134. Invoke cell filters: ALT ↓
135. Create Multiple Lines within the same cell: ALT ENTER

ALT and FUNCTION Excel Shortcut Keys

136. Create a Chart: ALT F1
137. Save As: ALT F2
138. Save: ALT F4
139. Refresh External Data: ALT F5
140. Open Selection and Visibility Dialog: ALT F10
141. Open Visual Basic Application Editor: ALT F11

What are the best Excel shortcut keys?

The Excel shortcut keys that you will find most useful really depends upon the way in which you use Microsoft Excel and the tasks which you perform most regularly. A few of our favorites include Flash Fill (CTRL E), Quick Analysis (CTRL Q) and creating a chart (ALT F1). There are now hundreds of Excel shortcuts, and we have endevoured to include as many of the best time-saving ones as we can with the 141 covered here.

If you enjoyed this tutorial you might also like:

• 17 Excel Functions for Absolute Beginners
  
  
• DateDif() the Hidden Excel Function that You Should Know About
  
  
• Excel XLOOKUP Function Tutorial (with fun examples)
  
  
• The Best Places to Teach Yourself the Excel LAMBDA Function
  
  
• How do I translate Excel Functions into other Languages?
  
  
• Excel Sunburst Charts: Three Part Tutorial
  
  
• Create a Simple Excel VLOOKUP in Under 2 Minutes
  
  
• The Excel CONVERT Function Conversion Toolkit
  
  
• How Long Does it Take to Learn Excel?
  
  

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MS Excel Course Levels:

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- introductory topics for working with Excel spreadsheets

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Excel Power Query course

- Introduction to using Excel Power Query in conjunction with Pivot Tables, Power Pivot and Power Pivot Measures

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