Nowadays life is so fast paced that we could all do with more time to get things done, so anything that can be streamlined should be! These really handy Excel shortcuts will save you some precious minutes (or hours!) so you can fit in the more important things.
There are tons of shortcuts in Excel, but here are the most frequently used ones:
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 will 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) |
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
| 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) |
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