Mastering Microsoft Excel with Essential Hotkey Techniques and Tips

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Even if you’re familiar with Microsoft Excel, you might be surprised by the number and variety of keyboard shortcuts you can use to speed up your work and generally make things more convenient.

Now, does anyone expect you to memorize all these keyboard combos? Of course not! Everyone’s needs are different, so some will be more useful to you than others. And even if you pick up a few new tricks, it’s worth it. We’ve also tried to keep the list clean and simple, so go ahead and print it that helps!

Also, even though our list of shortcuts here is pretty long, it’s by no means a complete list of every keyboard combo available in Excel. We’ve tried to keep it to the more generally useful shortcuts. And, you’ll be happy to know that almost all of these shortcuts have been around for a long time, so they should be helpful no matter what version of Excel you’re using.

General Program Shortcuts

First, let’s take a look at some general keyboard shortcuts for manipulating workbooks, getting help, and a few other interface-related actions.

Ctrl+N: Create a new workbook
Ctrl+O: Open an existing workbook
Ctrl+S: Save a workbook
F12: Open the Save As dialog box
Ctrl+W: Close a workbook
Ctrl+F4: Close Excel
F4: Repeat the last command or action. For example, if the last thing you typed in a cell is “hello,” or if you change the font color, clicking another cell and pressing F4 repeats that action in the new cell.
Shift+F11: Insert a new worksheet
Ctrl+Z: Undo an action
Ctrl+Y: Redo an action
Ctrl+F2: Switch to Print Preview
F1: Open the Help pane
Alt+Q: Go to the “Tell me what you want to do” box
F7: Check spelling
F9: Calculate all worksheets in all open workbooks
Shift+F9: Calculate active worksheets
Alt or F10: Turn key tips on or off
Ctrl+F1: Show or hide the ribbon
Ctrl+Shift+U: Expand or collapse the formula bar
Ctrl+F9: Minimize the workbook window
F11: Create a bar chart based on selected data (on a separate sheet)
Alt+F1: Create an embedded bar chart based on select data (same sheet)
Ctrl+F: Search in a spreadsheet, or use Find and Replace
Alt+F: Open the File tab menu
Alt+H: Go to the Home tab
Alt+N: Open the Insert tab
Alt+P: Go to the Page Layout tab
Alt+M: Go to the Formulas tab
Alt+A: Go to the Data tab
Alt+R: Go to the Review tab
Alt+W: Go to the View tab
Alt+X: Go to the Add-ins tab
Alt+Y: Go to the Help tab
Ctrl+Tab: Switch between open workbooks
Shift+F3: Insert a function
Alt+F8: Create, run, edit, or delete a macro
Alt+F11: Open the Microsoft Visual Basic For Applications Editor

Moving Around in a Worksheet or Cell

You can use keyboard shortcuts to easily navigate throughout your worksheet, within a cell, or throughout your entire workbook.

Left/Right Arrow: Move one cell to the left or right
Ctrl+Left/Right Arrow: Move to the farthest cell left or right in the row
Up/Down Arrow: Move one cell up or down
Ctrl+Up/Down Arrow: Move to the top or bottom cell in the column
Tab: Go to the next cell
Shift+Tab: Go to the previous cell
Ctrl+End: Go to the most bottom right used cell
F5: Go to any cell by pressing F5 and typing the cell coordinate or cell name.
Home: Go to the leftmost cell in the current row (or go to the beginning of the cell if editing a cell)
Ctrl+Home: Move to the beginning of a worksheet
Page Up/Down: Move one screen up or down in a worksheet
Alt+Page Up/Down: Move one screen to the right or left in a worksheet
Ctrl+Page Up/Down: Move to the previous or next worksheet

Selecting Cells

You may have noticed from the previous section you use the arrow keys to move between cells, and the Ctrl key to modify that movement. Using the Shift key to modify the arrow keys lets you extend your selected cells. There are also a few other combos for speeding up selection, as well.

Shift+Left/Right Arrow: Extend the cell selection to the left or right
Shift+Space: Select the entire row
Ctrl+Space: Select the entire column
Ctrl+Shift+Space: Select the entire worksheet

Editing Cells

Excel also provides some keyboard shortcuts for editing cells.

F2: Edit a cell
Shift+F2: Add or edit a cell comment
Ctrl+X: Cut contents of a cell, selected data, or selected cell range
Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Insert: Copy contents of a cell, selected data, or selected cell range
Ctrl+V or Shift+Insert: Paste contents of a cell, selected data, or selected cell range
Ctrl+Alt+V: Open the Paste Special dialog box
Delete: Remove the contents of a cell, selected data, or selected cell range
Alt+Enter: Insert a hard return within a cell (while editing a cell)
F3: Paste a cell name (if cells are named in the worksheet)
Alt+H+D+C: Delete column
Esc: Cancel an entry in a cell or the formula bar
Enter: Complete an entry in a cell or the formula bar

Formatting Cells

Ready to format some cells? These keyboard shortcuts make it easier!

Ctrl+B: Add or remove bold to the contents of a cell, selected data, or selected cell range
Ctrl+I: Add or remove italics to the contents of a cell, selected data, or selected cell range
Ctrl+U: Add or remove underline to the contents of a cell, selected data, or selected cell range
Alt+H+H: Select a fill color
Alt+H+B: Add a border
Ctrl+Shift+&: Apply outline border
Ctrl+Shift+_ (Underline): Remove outline border
Ctrl+9: Hide the selected rows
Ctrl+0: Hide the selected columns
Ctrl+1: Open the Format Cells dialog box
Ctrl+5: Apply or remove strikethrough
Ctrl+Shift+$: Apply currency format
Ctrl+Shift+%: Apply percent format

The more you use keyboard shortcuts, the easier they are to remember. And no one expects you to memorize all of them. Hopefully, you’ve found a few new ones you can use to make your life in Excel a little better.

Need more help with keyboard shortcuts? You can access Help anytime by pressing F1. This opens a Help pane and allows you to search for help on any topic. Search for “keyboard shortcuts” to learn more.

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Mastering Microsoft Excel with Essential Hotkey Techniques and Tips