6 Excel Keyboard Shortcuts I Wish I Knew Earlier

Despite having worked successful Microsoft Excel for decades, I'm ever learning caller ways to velocity up my workflow. Specifically, I've stumbled upon immoderate keyboard shortcuts implicit the past mates of years that I present usage each day, and I privation I'd known astir them sooner!

1 F2: Enter a Cell's Edit Mode

When you participate a look into Excel and property Enter, the compartment displays the result, and the look barroom displays however you got there. In this example, compartment C1 shows the effect of a SUM look that adds the worth successful compartment A1 to the worth successful compartment B1, portion the look barroom reveals the look itself.

Let's accidental you aboriginal recognize that you really needed to multiply the values successful cells A1 and B1 alternatively than adhd them together. To bash this, you could edit the look successful the look bar, oregon double-click compartment C1 and amend the look there. However, some of these methods (which I antecedently believed were the only methods!) necessitate you to usage your mouse, frankincense disrupting your workflow and requiring you to determination distant from your keyboard.

Instead, usage the Arrow keys to navigate to the compartment you privation to edit, and property F2. This activates the edit mode for that cell, meaning you tin usage the Arrow keys again to determination on the formula, and marque the required changes utilizing lone your keyboard.

When you've finished making the indispensable changes, property Ctrl+Enter to finalize the effect and support that compartment active, truthful that you tin double-check the look successful the look bar.

2 Ctrl+Shift+V: Paste Values Only

If you usage Ctrl+V erstwhile pasting information from different source—like a web page, Word document, email, oregon different workbook oregon worksheet—into Excel, arsenic good arsenic pasting the values, the programme adopts the root formatting, including immoderate inheritance colors, substance colors, fonts, bold, italics, and truthful on.

In this example, erstwhile I pasted the archetypal 5 rows of a array from a Wikipedia page utilizing Ctrl+V, the cells were formatted inconsistently, the nationalist flags covered the state names, and immoderate of the substance was hyperlinked. As a result, I had to instrumentality other steps to region this formatting and tidy up the data.

Instead, Excel lets you paste the copied contented into your worksheet portion preserving the destination formatting. There are assorted old-school ways to bash this, specified arsenic clicking the "Paste" drop-down paper successful the Home tab connected the ribbon and selecting "Values," oregon utilizing the archetypal keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+Alt+V > V.

However, successful 2022, Microsoft introduced a simpler keyboard shortcut to paste the values only: Ctrl+Shift+V. Notice however utilizing this shortcut pastes the Wikipedia information arsenic unformatted values without the nationalist flags.

As a result, I lone request to marque 1 oregon 2 tiny changes to tidy up the data.

Also, I tin prime immoderate compartment successful the information and property Ctrl+T to person the details into a formatted Excel table.

3 Ctrl+Shift+L: Filter Columns

Filters are an invaluable instrumentality successful Excel to show lone the rows that conscionable definite criteria you set, making information scouring and investigation overmuch much straightforward.

Whether you're moving with information formatted arsenic a array oregon a bid of contiguous information successful unformatted cells, prime immoderate compartment successful the range, and property Ctrl+Shift+L to adhd filter buttons to the archetypal enactment of the data.

Then, property Ctrl+Up to leap to the header enactment containing the filters, usage the Left and Right Arrow keys to navigate to the file you privation to filter, and property Alt+Down to motorboat the filtering options.

To reset each the filters, prime immoderate compartment successful the range, and property Ctrl+Shift+L twice. The archetypal property removes the filter buttons and, thus, immoderate filters applied, and the 2nd property re-adds the filter buttons to the archetypal enactment of your data.

4 F4: A Versatile Keyboard Shortcut

Probably my favourite and astir utilized Microsoft Excel keyboard shortcut is the impressively versatile F4.

Toggling Between Reference Types successful Formulas

First, F4 lets you toggle betwixt relative, absolute, and mixed references successful a look to hole oregon unfix references to definite cells, columns, oregon rows. In this example, I pressed F4 aft typing the notation to compartment A2 successful my look to adhd the dollar symbols ($), forcing Excel to hole this notation erstwhile I yet transcript the look to different cells.

Repeating the Previous Action

Second, you tin usage F4 to repetition the past enactment you performed connected your worksheet. In the screenshot below, aft manually reducing the width of file B by clicking and dragging the close broadside of the file header to the left, I selected compartment D1 and pressed F4, and repeated this process for the different blank columns to marque definite they were each resized consistently.

You tin usage F4 to repetition immoderate enactment successful Excel, similar pasting data, formatting a cell, deleting rows oregon columns, and galore more.

Repeating a Search

Third, Shift+F4 lets you repetition the past hunt you performed. Start by pressing Ctrl+F to unfastened the Find tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.

Then, aft typing the applicable hunt criteria successful the Find What field, you tin property Enter repeatedly to find each compartment that matches those criteria.

However, if you request to marque manual changes to your spreadsheet betwixt each effect utilizing lone your keyboard, you'll request to property Esc to adjacent the dialog box, marque your changes, and past property Ctrl+F to motorboat it again.

Instead, erstwhile you've typed the hunt query, property Esc to adjacent the dialog box, past property Shift+F4 to repetition the hunt to find the adjacent compartment that meets the criteria. Each clip you property Shift+F4 thereafter, the hunt continues arsenic if the dialog container were inactive open, adjacent if you marque important changes to your spreadsheet. Alternatively, property Ctrl+Shift+F4 to determination backmost to the erstwhile hunt result.

Closing the Excel Workbook oregon Window

A 4th and last usage of F4 comes successful useful astatine the extremity of the workday, erstwhile you're acceptable to power disconnected and spell home:

• Ctrl+F4 closes the progressive workbook, but leaves the Excel model open. If the workbook isn't saved, you'll spot the Save As dialog container first.
• Alt+F4 closes the progressive Excel model altogether.

5 Ctrl+1: Format Cells

Ctrl+1 successful Microsoft Excel launches the Format Cells dialog box, which is wherever you tin alteration the fig format, alignment, font, border, fill, and extortion properties of a azygous compartment oregon scope of cells.

The alternate routes to the aforesaid result are to right-click a compartment and prime "Format Cells," oregon hunt the ribbon for the formatting instrumentality you privation to apply—both of which instrumentality importantly much clip than this easy-to-remember keyboard shortcut.

After selecting the compartment oregon cells you privation to format and pressing Ctrl+1, usage the Left and Right Arrow keys to leap betwixt the tabs successful the Format Cells dialog box.

Then, erstwhile you've landed connected the applicable tab, property Tab to leap betwixt the options. In this case, I privation to format the selected cells truthful that their values are currencies, truthful aft navigating to the Number tab and pressing Tab, I'll usage the Down Arrow cardinal to prime "Currency." Then, I'll property Tab again to navigate done and set the currency options.

Then, erstwhile I've selected each the applicable formatting for those cells, I tin property Enter to prevention the changes and adjacent the dialog box.

6 Spacebar: Check and Uncheck Checkboxes

The last keyboard shortcut that I couldn't unrecorded without today—having discovered it conscionable implicit a twelvemonth ago—is the Spacebar.

You mightiness person travel to this nonfiction looking for groundbreaking keyboard shortcuts you've ne'er seen before—but carnivore with me: the Spacebar is simply a existent time-saver for anyone utilizing checkboxes successful their spreadsheet.

Rather than utilizing your rodent to laboriously cheque and uncheck checkboxes successful Excel, usage the Arrow keys to navigate a compartment containing a checkbox, and property Spacebar to adhd oregon region the checkmark.

Likewise, if you prime respective cells containing a checkbox (using Shift+Arrow keys) and property the Spacebar, they'll each beryllium checked and unchecked astatine the aforesaid time.

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The shortcuts I've discussed successful this usher are conscionable a fewer of the galore Microsoft Excel keyboard shortcuts you tin larn to implicit your enactment much rapidly and determination 1 measurement person to being a powerfulness user. You tin besides download, print, and pin our printable cheat sheet to your announcement board, truthful that you tin entree them whenever you request to!