Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

Excel Keyboard Shortcuts (Table of Contents)

• Excel Keyboard Shortcuts
• How to Use Excel Keyboard Shortcuts?

Introduction to Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

Excel Keyboard Shortcuts allow you to do things with your keyboard instead of using your mouse to increase your speed & to save time. ALT key on the keyboard is the master key, which is present on both side of your Spacebar key, helps to use shortcut key for various task. It helps out or reduces the usage of the mouse & and its number of clicks. Keyboard shortcuts are an essential alternative for the mouse.

Definition of Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut keys in Microsoft Excel help you to provide an easier and usually quicker method of directing and finishing commands. In Excel Keyboard shortcuts are commonly accessed by using ALT, Ctrl, Shift, Function key and Windows key.

When you press the Alt key, you can observe below mentioned Ribbon tab showing shortcuts keys to press e.g. H in Home tab.

If you press, ALT+H, it is further categorized, Excel will display icons, where you can see the shortcut keys for various groups appearing under ribbon tab.

Let’s check out how Excel Keyboard Shortcuts works, it is categorized based on the usage of Alt, Ctrl, Shift & Function key.

How to Use Excel Keyboard Shortcuts?

There are multiple Excel Keyboard Shortcuts. Let us understand the uses and working of keyboard shortcuts.

1. Function Keys Shortcut

Shortcut Key	Action
	Microsoft Excel Help
	Edit
	Paste Name
	Repeat last worksheet action
	It is also used to switch between absolute/relative refs
	Goto
	Next Pane
	Spell check
	Extend mode
	Recalculate all workbooks
	Activate Menubar
	New Chart
	Save As

2. CTRL + Letters Shortcuts

Shortcut Key	Action
	Select All
	Bold
	Copy
	Fill Down
	Find
	Go to
	Replace
	Italic
	Insert Hyperlink
	Displays the Create Table dialog box
	New Workbook
	Open
	Print
	Fill Right
	Save
	Underline
	Paste
	Close
	Cut
	Repeat the last worksheet action
	Undo

3. CTRL + Numbers Shortcuts

Shortcut Key	Action
	Hide columns
	Format Cells dialog box
	Bold
	Italic
	Underline
	Strikethrough
	Show or Hide objects
	Show or Hide Standard toolbar
	Toggle Outline symbols
	Hide rows
	It Unhides the columns in the current selection
	It Enters the value from the cell directly above into the active cell
	It Selects the current region (associated by blank rows and columns)
	It will Unhide the rows in the current selection

4. CTRL + Function Keys Shortcut

Shortcut Key	Action
	Expand or collapse the Ribbon
	Display Print Preview area on Print tab of Backstage View
	Display the Name Manager dialog box
	Close current selected workbook window
	Alternate between current active workbook window and next workbook window
	Apply Move command on the active workbook window
	Apply Resize command on the active workbook window
	Minimize currently selected workbook window
	Maximize or restore currently selected workbook window
	New Macro sheet
	Display the Open dialog box

5. SHIFT + Function Keys Shortcut

Shortcut Key	Action
	Edit cell comment
	Displays formula box to Paste function into the formula
	Find Next
	Find
	Moves to the Previous Pane in a workbook
	Add to selection
	Calculate active worksheet
	Display shortcut menu
	Insert New worksheet
	Save

6. ALT + Function Keys Shortcut

Shortcut Key	Action
	Insert Chart (It Creates a chart of the data in the current range)
	Save As
	Closes all workbook & Exits excel
	Macro dialog box
	Displays Visual Basic Editor

 7. ALT + SHIFT + Function Keys Shortcut

Shortcut Key		Action
		Inserts a new worksheet into the active workbook
		Displays the Save As dialog box
		Closes all the workbooks and exits Excel
		It Displays the drop-down menu for corresponding smart tag
		It Activates the Microsoft Script Editor window

8. ALT + Letter Keys Shortcut

Shortcut Key	Action
	Convert Text to Columns Wizard
	Hide grouped columns or rows
	Show grouped columns or rows
	Displays the Remove Duplicates dialog box
	Advanced Filter
	Sort smallest to largest
	Sort largest to smallest
	Displays the Sort dialog box
	Add or Remove the bottom border
	Add or Remove downward diagonal border
	Go to Backstage View
	Add or Remove horizontal interior border
	Align text to the bottom of the cell
	Align text to the center of the cell
	Align text to the left of the cell
	Align text to the middle of the cell
	Choose accounting format
	Align text to the right of the cell
	Align text to the top of the cell
	Expand Borders drop-down menu
	Choose font color
	Expand Font Color drop-down menu
	Change the font face
	Increase the font size by 1 point
	Decrease the font size by 1 point
	Format Cells dialog box with the Number tab selected
	Format Cells dialog box with the Font tab selected
	Clipboard task pane
	Activates Format Painter
	Change the font size
	Expand Fill Color drop-down menu
	Expand the Cell Styles menu
	Format number with a thousand’s comma (,) separator
	Choose number format
	Expand Format as Table drop-down menu
	Expand the Format as Table menu
	Wrap text
	Go to Layout tab of the Ribbon
	Go to Design tab of the Ribbon
	Expand Add Chart Element drop-down menu
	Add or Remove left border
	Expand the Insert Form Controls and ActiveX Controls drop-down menu
	Trace Dependents
	Trace Precedents
	Insert Bar Chart
	Insert Column Chart
	Insert Line Chart
	Insert Pie or Doughnut Chart
	Recommended Charts
	Insert Combo Chart
	Pivot Table
	Insert Text Box
	Add or Remove right border
	Show all comments
	Delete comment
	Add or Remove top border
	Display Excel Options dialog box
	Add or Remove vertical interior border
	Page Break Preview
	Normal View
	Zoom dialog box
	View or hide gridlines

Things to Remember About Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

• Excel Keyboard Shortcuts helps you to provide an easier and usually quicker method of directing and finishing commands.
• Excel Keyboard Shortcuts also helps out or reduces the usage of the mouse & and its number of clicks.
• Apart from these, the most commonly used shortcut keys are –

	Move to the beginning of a worksheet.
	Move to the next sheet in a workbook.
	Move to the previous sheet in a workbook
	Move one screen to the right in a worksheet.
	Move one screen to the left in a worksheet.
	Move to the edge of the current data region in a worksheet.

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to Excel Keyboard Shortcuts. Here we discuss the working of Excel Keyboard Shortcuts, how to access them and how to use Excel Keyboard Shortcuts to save your time. You may also learn more on Excel from the following articles –

1. Excel Shortcut For Merge Cells
2. Excel Filter Shortcuts
3. Excel Insert Row Shortcut