Prime Time Excel Keyboard Shortcuts
Contributed by John Cellini
iCellini Computer Training
Published on July 19, 2006
Our students often ask for a list of keyboard shortcuts. There are hundreds of shortcut key combinations. Keyboard shortcuts can really help your productivity. The list below starts out with a few common keyboard shortcuts that everyone should be using. I have also cherry-picked some of the less-common Excel shortcuts that I think are useful. For a more complete, categorized list of Excel keyboard shortcuts, check the Microsoft web site: Excel Keyboard shortcuts.
To Do This |
Press |
|---|---|
| Copy the selected cells. | CTRL+C |
| Cut the selected cells. | CTRL+X |
| Paste copied cells. | CTRL+V |
| Undo the last action. | CTRL+Z |
| Move to the beginning of the worksheet. | CTRL+HOME |
| Move to the last cell on the worksheet, in the bottom-most used row of the rightmost used column. | CTRL+END |
| Cancel a cell entry. | ESC |
| Apply or remove bold formatting. | CTRL+B |
| Display the Format Cells dialog box. | CTRL+1 |
| Display the Print dialog box. | CTRL+P or CTRL+SHIFT+F12 |
| Insert a new worksheet. | SHIFT+F11 or ALT+SHIFT+F1 |
| Move to the next sheet in the workbook. | CTRL+PAGE DOWN |
| Move to the previous sheet in the workbook. | CTRL+PAGE UP |
| Select the entire column. | CTRL+SPACEBAR |
| Select the entire row. | SHIFT+SPACEBAR |
| Select all cells directly referenced by formulas in the selection. | CTRL+[ (opening bracket) |
| Select all cells directly or indirectly referenced by formulas in the selection. | CTRL+SHIFT+{ (opening brace) |
| Select cells that contain formulas that directly reference the active cell. | CTRL+] (closing bracket) |
| Select cells that contain formulas that directly or indirectly reference the active cell. | CTRL+SHIFT+} (closing brace) |
| Turn extend mode on or off. In extend mode, EXT appears in the status line, and the arrow keys extend the selection. | F8 |
| Add another range of cells to the selection; or use the arrow keys to move to the start of the range you want to add, and then press F8 and the arrow keys to select the next range. | SHIFT+F8 |
| Extend the selection by one cell. | SHIFT+arrow key |
| Fill down. | CTRL+D |
| Fill to the right. | CTRL+R |
| Enter the date. | CTRL+; (semicolon) |
| Insert an AutoSum formula with the SUM function. | ALT+= (equal sign) |
| Edit the active cell and position the insertion point at the end of the cell contents. | F2 |
| Start a new line of text in the same cell. | ALT+ENTER |
| Display the Format Cells dialog box. | CTRL+1 |
