Excel Shortcuts

⭐Start here(9)

• ⭐ Undo

  The first thing to learn. Excel keeps a long undo history, so you can step back through several mistakes.

  Ctrl+Z

• ⭐ Redo

  Steps forward again after undoing one step too many.

  Ctrl+Y

• ⭐ Save

  Press it after every meaningful change. AutoSave only covers files stored in OneDrive or SharePoint.

  Ctrl+S

• ⭐ Copy

  The marching-ants border stays active, so you can paste the same thing into several places.

  Ctrl+C

• ⭐ Paste

  Pastes everything: values, formulas, formatting and validation.

  Ctrl+V

• ⭐ Cut

  Moving cells with cut keeps formulas pointing at them correct, which retyping does not.

  Ctrl+X

• ⭐ Find

  Searching a sheet for a value. Add Options to search the whole workbook rather than one sheet.

  Ctrl+F

• ⭐ Find and Replace

  Cleaning imported data — stripping stray characters, fixing inconsistent spellings across thousands of rows at once.

  Ctrl+H

• Print

  Opens print preview, where you can check the page breaks before wasting paper.

  Ctrl+P

🧭Moving around(10)

• ⭐ Jump to the edge of the data

  The fastest way to the bottom of a long column. Also tells you where your data actually ends, which matters when a stray value is sitting 4,000 rows down.

  Ctrl+Arrow

• ⭐ Go to cell A1

  Getting back to the top of a sheet from anywhere.

  Ctrl+Home

• Go to the last used cell

  Shows the real extent of the sheet. If it lands far past your data, there is invisible formatting bloating the file size.

  Ctrl+End

• ⭐ Next worksheet

  Moving between sheets without reaching for the mouse.

  Ctrl+Page Down

• Previous worksheet

  Moving back through sheets. Hold it down to run through a whole workbook quickly.

  Ctrl+Page Up

• Go To

  Type a cell reference to jump straight there. Go To Special underneath it is where the real power is.

  Ctrl+G

• Go To dialog

  Same as Ctrl+G, and the route to Go To Special.

  F5

• One screen right

  Scanning across a wide sheet a screen at a time.

  Alt+Page Down

• Start of the row

  Back to column A on the current row, without leaving the row you are reading.

  Home

• Next open workbook

  Switching between two files you are comparing.

  Ctrl+Tab

🔲Selecting(9)

• ⭐ Select the current region, then the whole sheet

  Pressing it once selects the block of data you are inside; pressing it again takes the entire sheet.

  Ctrl+A

• ⭐ Select to the edge of the data

  The standard way to select a whole column of data without dragging or catching the empty rows below it.

  Ctrl+Shift+Arrow

• ⭐ Select the entire column

  Before formatting or deleting a whole column.

  Ctrl+Space

• ⭐ Select the entire row

  Selects the whole row. Follow it with Ctrl and minus to delete the row outright.

  Shift+Space

• Extend the selection one cell

  Nudging a selection by one cell when Ctrl+Shift+Arrow overshoots past a blank.

  Shift+Arrow

• Select to the last used cell

  Grabbing everything from here to the end of the data in one press.

  Ctrl+Shift+End

• Select the whole table or sheet

  Inside a Table it selects the table; outside it takes the sheet.

  Ctrl+Shift+Space

• ⭐ Select visible cells only

  Essential after filtering. Copying a filtered range without this quietly copies the hidden rows too.

  Alt+;

• Select all cells with comments

  Finding every note left in a workbook before sending it on.

  Ctrl+Shift+O

✏️Editing(10)

• ⭐ Edit the active cell

  Puts the cursor inside the cell instead of overwriting it. Also shows which cells a formula refers to, colour-coded.

  F2

• ⭐ Fill down

  Copies the cell above into the selection. Faster than dragging the fill handle down 500 rows.

  Ctrl+D

• ⭐ Fill right

  Copies the cell to the left across the selection — useful for filling a row of month columns.

  Ctrl+R

• ⭐ New line inside a cell

  Multi-line addresses or notes in one cell, without a merged mess.

  Alt+Enter

• ⭐ Fill the whole selection with what you typed

  Select a range, type once, press this — every selected cell gets it. Excellent for filling gaps.

  Ctrl+Enter

• Insert today's date

  A fixed date, unlike TODAY(), so it will not change tomorrow.

  Ctrl+;

• Insert the current time

  Timestamping a row as you work through a list.

  Ctrl+Shift+;

• Copy the formula from the cell above

  Copies the formula text exactly, without adjusting the references.

  Ctrl+'

• Cancel the edit

  Backs out of a cell without saving what you typed.

  Esc

• Insert a hyperlink

  Linking to a source file or a sheet elsewhere in the workbook.

  Ctrl+K

🎨Formatting(11)

• ⭐ Format Cells dialog

  The single most useful shortcut in Excel. Number formats, alignment, borders, custom formats — all behind one key.

  Ctrl+1

• ⭐ Bold

  Marking header rows and totals so the eye finds the structure quickly.

  Ctrl+B

• Italic

  Notes and caveats beside figures, where you want them visibly secondary.

  Ctrl+I

• Underline

  Rarely the right choice in a spreadsheet — a bottom border usually reads better.

  Ctrl+U

• ⭐ Currency format

  Two decimals and a thousands separator in one press.

  Ctrl+Shift+$

• ⭐ Percentage format

  Careful: 0.15 becomes 15%, but 15 becomes 1500%.

  Ctrl+Shift+%

• Date format

  Turning a serial number back into a readable date.

  Ctrl+Shift+#

• ⭐ General format

  Strips a number format to see the raw stored value — the quickest way to check whether a date is really a date.

  Ctrl+Shift+~

• Add an outline border

  Boxes off a block of figures, which reads better than underlining a total.

  Ctrl+Shift+&

• Remove all borders

  Undoing inherited border formatting from pasted data.

  Ctrl+Shift+_

• Centre align

  Headers. Leave the numbers right-aligned so the digits line up.

  Alt+H, A, C

🧮Formulas(10)

• ⭐ Start a formula

  Excel treats anything starting with = as a formula. Typing + or - first also works, a habit from Lotus 1-2-3.

  =

• ⭐ AutoSum

  Excel guesses the range above or to the left. Check the guess before pressing Enter.

  Alt+=

• ⭐ Cycle absolute and relative references

  Press it while the cursor is on a reference to toggle A1 → $A$1 → A$1 → $A1. The fix for formulas that break when copied.

  F4

• ⭐ Evaluate the selected part of a formula

  Select part of a long formula in the formula bar and press this to see what that piece returns. The best debugging tool Excel has.

  F9

• ⭐ Show all formulas

  Switches the sheet to showing formulas instead of results — how you audit an inherited workbook.

  Ctrl+`

• Enter as an array formula

  Only needed in older Excel. Modern versions spill arrays automatically.

  Ctrl+Shift+Enter

• Paste a name into a formula

  Using named ranges without remembering exactly what you called them.

  F3

• Expand the formula bar

  Reading a long nested formula without scrolling sideways.

  Ctrl+Shift+U

• Go to the cells this formula refers to

  Tracing where a number came from, one hop at a time.

  Ctrl+[

• Go to the cells that refer to this one

  Checking what will break before you change or delete a cell.

  Ctrl+]

📐Rows & columns(8)

• ⭐ Insert rows or columns

  Select whole rows first and it inserts that many at once.

  Ctrl+Shift++

• ⭐ Delete rows or columns

  With a whole row selected it deletes without asking.

  Ctrl+-

• Hide rows

  Tucking away intermediate calculations before printing or sharing a sheet.

  Ctrl+9

• Unhide rows

  Select rows either side of the hidden ones first, then press this to bring them back.

  Ctrl+Shift+9

• Hide columns

  Same idea sideways. Grouping is usually a better habit than hiding.

  Ctrl+0

• AutoFit column width

  Sizes columns to their content. Double-clicking the column border does the same thing.

  Alt+H, O, I

• Group rows or columns

  Collapsible sections beat hidden rows, because the little +/- tells the next reader something is there.

  Alt+Shift+→

• Ungroup

  Flattens a grouped section back out when the outline is getting in the way.

  Alt+Shift+←

📁Files & sheets(6)

• New workbook

  A clean file for scratch work, so you are not testing something risky in the real workbook.

  Ctrl+N

• Open

  Straight to the file browser, including the recent files list.

  Ctrl+O

• Close the workbook

  Closes this workbook but leaves Excel open, prompting for unsaved changes.

  Ctrl+W

• ⭐ Save As

  Making a dated copy before a big change — the cheapest insurance there is.

  F12

• Insert a new worksheet

  Adds a worksheet immediately before the current one, ready to name.

  Shift+F11

• Close Excel

  Closes every workbook and quits Excel, prompting for anything unsaved.

  Alt+F4

🔍Data & filters(8)

• ⭐ Toggle filters

  Turns the filter dropdowns on and off. Toggling clears every filter at once, which is faster than reopening each one.

  Ctrl+Shift+L

• Open the filter dropdown

  Filtering entirely from the keyboard, once the cursor is on a header cell.

  Alt+↓

• ⭐ Create a Table

  Tables grow automatically, keep formulas consistent down a column, and give ranges readable names. Worth doing to almost any dataset.

  Ctrl+T

• Toggle the Total row

  Adds a summary row to a Table with a choice of function.

  Ctrl+Shift+T

• Sort dialog

  Multi-level sorting. Always sort the whole table, never one column on its own.

  Alt+A, S, S

• Format Cells: font tab

  Jumps to the font tab of Format Cells, skipping the number and alignment tabs.

  Ctrl+Shift+P

• Clear all filters

  Showing everything again without hunting through each dropdown.

  Alt+A, R, A

• Insert PivotTable

  The fastest route to summarising thousands of rows.

  Alt+N, V

🖥️View & windows(6)

• Toggle the ribbon

  Collapses the ribbon to reclaim a couple of rows of screen on a laptop.

  Ctrl+Shift+F1

• ⭐ Freeze panes

  Keeps headers visible while you scroll. Put the cursor below and right of what you want frozen first.

  Alt+W, F, F

• Collapse the ribbon

  The same ribbon toggle with fewer keys on Windows. Click any tab to use it while collapsed.

  Ctrl+F1

• Zoom

  Zooming out to see the shape of a large sheet.

  Ctrl+Scroll

• Split the window

  Comparing two distant parts of the same sheet.

  Alt+W, S

• Minimise the window

  Drops the window out of the way without closing anything you are working on.

  Ctrl+F9

📋Paste Special(6)

• ⭐ Paste Special dialog

  The gateway to pasting values, formats or formulas separately.

  Ctrl+Alt+V

• ⭐ Paste values only

  Stripping formulas so numbers stop changing. The most-used paste in any finance team.

  Ctrl+Alt+V, then V

• Paste formats only

  Copying the look of one range onto another without touching the data.

  Ctrl+Alt+V, then T

• Paste formulas only

  Bringing formulas across without dragging the source formatting with them.

  Ctrl+Alt+V, then F

• Paste transposed

  Flipping a row into a column. Handy when a report arrives the wrong way round.

  Ctrl+Alt+V, then E

• Paste column widths

  Making a copied sheet match the original's layout.

  Ctrl+Alt+V, then W