Handy Excel Shortcuts

There are a few shortcuts that I use everyday.  Excel has many keyboard shortcuts which are convenient and can save you time. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but they are the most common shortcuts.

F2 – This will allow you to enter edit mode in a cell, instead of double clicking on it.

F3 – This will bring up the dialog to paste the names of all the named ranges in the workbook.

F4 – When you are in edit mode of a cell and your cursor is on a cell reference, this will toggle between the absolute and relative references (ie. The $ in the cell reference $A$1).

F5 or Ctrl + G – This brings up the Go To dialog where you can jump to certain ranges or you can click on the Special button and then select certain cells based on a variety of choices.  For instance, you can select all the Objects in the active worksheet or you can select all the formulas that equate to errors.

Ctrl + End – This will bring you to the very last cell of data.  But be careful with this, sometimes data is deleted or formats are added and Excel will count that as data and will include it in the data range.

Ctrl + Home – This will bring you back to the very top of your data, usually cell A1.  But if you have freeze panes on, then it will bring you back to the first row and first column after the freeze panes.

Ctrl + Shift + End – This will select all values from the current cell to the last cell.

Ctrl + Shift + Home – This will select all values from the current cell to the first cell.

Alt + F11 – This brings up the Visual Basic Editor (VBE), where code can be entered and modified.

Ctrl + F – This brings you directly to the Find window in order to find an item within the data.

Ctrl + H – The brings you directly to the Replace window.  You could use Ctrl + F then click on the replace tab, but this saves you one extra step.

Ctrl + D – This will autofill a range for you, without you selecting the fill handle and dragging down.  You need to select the first value and then highlight all the cells below, then click Ctrl + D and the cells will be filled with the first value highlighted.

Ctrl + Page Up – This will toggle through to the previous sheet.

Ctrl + Page Down – This will toggle through to the next sheet.

Ctrl + ~ – This will allow you toggle between showing the value of a formula, and the actual formula.  Press it once to show the formula, press it again to go back to the value.

Ctrl + ; – This will enter today’s date as a value into the active cell.

Ctrl + Shift + ; – This will enter the current time as a value into the active cell.

Ctrl + A – This will select all the cells in the worksheet.

Ctrl + C – This will copy the current selection.

Ctrl + V – This will paste what’s in the clipboard into the active cell.

Ctrl + X – This will cut the current selection.  This basically copies it and removes it at the same time.


Of course there are many other shortcuts, but these are the main ones that I think you’ll be able to use to maneuver in Excel more efficiently.

For a more comprehensive list of keyboard shortcuts, have a look at this List from Microsoft.




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Have a nice day!