43 Handy Excel Shortcuts You Can't Live Without

Many marketers use Microsoft Excel every day, whether it's to create a chart, analyze data, or run a report to present at the next team meeting.

Aug 24, 2022 - 21:02

0 9

43 Handy Excel Shortcuts You Can't Live Without

Many marketers use Microsoft Excel every day, whether it's to create a chart, analyze data, or run a report to present at the next team meeting.

Creating reports like these in Excel is time-consuming enough. How can we spend a little less time navigating, formatting, selecting, and entering formulas for our data? Wouldn't it be great if there were keyboard shortcuts that could help us get our work done faster?

So glad you asked.

We’ve put together a list of 43 keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Excel. Although you can do all of these maneuvers manually, knowing these tricks will help save you time so you can focus on the stuff that really matters.

All of these shortcuts can be accessed on PC and Mac, so we've included both types below where applicable.

(Note for Mac users: To access the F keys (F1–F12), you'll have to hold the Fn key before pressing any F key -- unless you've enabled those keys as standard function keys.)

43 Excel Shortcuts You'll Definitely Want to Bookmark

Navigation Shortcuts

These simple shortcuts can help you navigate between workbooks, sheets, rows and columns:

Move up through a selection	Shift + Enter (PC and Mac)
Jump to the top of a column	CTRL + ↑ (PC); Command + ↑ (Mac)
Jump to the bottom of a column	CTRL + ↓ (PC); Command + ↓ (Mac)
Jump to the corner of a selection (Note: Rotate to each corner by repeating this keystroke)	CTRL + . (PC and Mac)
Close the active workbook window	CTRL + w (PC); Command + W (Mac)
Switch to previous workbook window	CTRL + Shift + F6 (PC); Command + Shift + F6 (Mac)
Switch to the next open worksheet	CTRL + Tab (Mac only)
Switch to the previous open worksheet (Mac)	CTRL + Shift + Tab (Mac only)
Start a new chart sheet	F11 (PC and Mac)
Insert a new sheet	Shift + F11 (PC and Mac)
Repeat the last action	CTRL + y (PC); Command + Y (Mac)
Fill selected cell with the content in the cell above selected cell	CTRL + d (PC and Mac)
Fill selected cell with the content in the cell to the left of selected cell	CTRL + r (PC and Mac)

Format Shortcuts

Formatting in Excel can be difficult if you don't know of what you're doing. Here are a few shortcuts that to help you easily format your cells. To start, here's a featured formatting shortcut you might not have known about:

Excel Strikethrough Shortcut

The Excel strikethrough shortcut will strike a line through the middle of the value or text in a highlighted cell. To strike a line through a cell, highlight the cell and press CTRL + 5 on your keyboard.

Find and replace values	CTRL + F (PC); Command + F (Mac)
Show all values as percentages	CTRL + Shift + % (PC and Mac)
Show all values as currency (Note: Replace $ with your own country's currency key)	CTRL + Shift + $ (PC and Mac)
Show all values in general number format	CTRL + Shift + ~ (PC and Mac)
Apply or remove bold formatting to selected cells	CTRL + 2 (PC); Command + b (Mac)
Apply or remove italic formatting to selected cells	CTRL + 3 (PC); Command + i (Mac)
Hide selected rows	CTRL + 9 (PC and Mac)
Unhide selected rows	CTRL + Shift + ( (PC and Mac)
Hide selected columns	CTRL + 0 (PC and Mac)
Unhide selected columns	CTRL + Shift + ) (PC and Mac)
Insert current date	CTRL + ; (PC and Mac)
Insert current time	CTRL + Shift + : (PC); Command + ; (Mac)
Insert a hyperlink	CTRL + k (PC); Command + k (Mac)
Apply an outline border to selected cells (see screenshot below)	CTRL + Shift + & (PC); Command + Option + 0 (Mac)

Here's what cells look like with (left) and without (right) a border:

Shortcuts for Selecting Rows & Columns

Save yourself the manual dragging and selecting rows and columns with these handy keyboard tricks. To start, here are two featured rows-related shortcuts you might not have known about:

Excel Insert Row Shortcut

The insert row shortcut in Excel will create a new row below a highlighted cell. To insert a new row, highlight a cell or entire row and press CTRL + Shift + + on your keyword, literally pressing the plus sign after Shift. This will open a small window of options where you can insert a new row or column.

Expand the selection by one cell either upward (↑) or downward (↓)	Shift + ↑ [or] Shift + ↓ (PC and Mac)
Expand the selection to the last non-empty cell	CTRL + Shift + Arrow Key (PC); Command + Shift + Arrow Key (Mac)
Select entire column	CTRL + [spacebar] (PC and Mac)
Select entire row	Shift + [spacebar] (PC and Mac)
Select entire sheet	CTRL + a (PC); Command + a (Mac)
Select only the visible cells in the current selection	Alt + ; (PC); Command + Shift + z (Mac)

Formula Shortcuts

Formulas are a huge part of every marketer's Excel toolkit. Here are a few shortcuts that'll make you a formula wiz:

Start a formula (e.g. "=A4+A5")	= (i.e. press the "equals" sign; PC and Mac)
Insert AutoSum formula	Alt + (PC); Command + Shift + t (Mac)
Edit active cell	F2 (PC); CTRL + u (Mac)
Display the Formula Builder after you type a valid function name in a formula	CTRL + a (PC and Mac)

Miscellaneous Shortcuts

Here are a few more time-saving shortcuts. To start, here's a final featured shortcut for managing the size of your Excel worksheet:

Excel Delete Row Shortcut

The Excel delete row shortcut will delete the row below a highlighted cell. To delete this row, highlight a cell or entire row and press CTRL + - on your keyboard, literally pressing the minus sign after CTRL. This will open a small window of options where you can "shift cells up."

Save your work as...	Control + Shift + s (PC); Command + Shift + s (Mac)
Open spelling & grammar check	F7 (PC and Mac)
Insert a comment (see screenshot below)	Shift + F2 (PC and Mac)

Insert a comment in Excel