Excel software was born to facilitate calculations. However, when the data to be entered is large, using the mouse to perform operations will make the work more efficient and take a lot of time. Therefore, the use keyboard shortcuts in Excel will be a solution to help users complete their work faster.

Using keyboard shortcuts speeds up data entry

The most basic Excel shortcuts

Any office worker should “pocket” the following basic Excel shortcuts to perform operations faster:

Some basic shortcuts in Excel

• Ctrl+A: Used to highlight the entire worksheet

• Ctrl+B: Change to bold

• Ctrl+I: italicize

• Ctrl+U: Underline the selected values

• Ctrl+C: Used to copy/copy data

• Ctrl+X: cut data

• Ctrl+V: to paste copied or cut data

• Ctrl+S: save the open file

• Ctrl + W and Alt + F4: close the document

• Ctrl+Z: go back to the previous operation

• Ctrl+Y: to restore the order that has just been canceled

• Ctrl+F: used to search for certain content or values

• Ctrl+H: both for searching and replacing expressions/values

• Ctrl+O: Open the saved file

• Ctrl+N: Open a new file

• Ctrl+P: command used to print

• Ctrl+R: Used to copy cell contents from left to right

• Ctrl+1: displays the Format Cells dialog box

• Ctrl+0: Used to hide the currently selected column

• Ctrl + Shift + 0: to show newly hidden columns

• Ctrl+9: to hide the currently selected row

• Ctrl + Shift + 9: to show newly hidden rows

• Ctrl + (-): Used to delete selected cells and row cells

• Ctrl + Shift + (+): to insert additional blank cells

• Ctrl+F4: to close the current worksheet

• Alt+F4: Exit Excel software

Shortcut keys in Excel are used to edit data

To edit data in an Excel table, use the following function keys:

Shortcuts in Excel to edit data in cells

• F2: Edit the currently selected cell

• Alt + Enter: Use for line breaks in the same Excel cell.

• Going back : to delete the character to the left of the mouse or clear the selections.

• DELETE: to clear content to the right of the cursor or clear selections.

• Ctrl + Del: delete the text until the end of the line.

• Enter: move to the cell below.

• Shift + Enter: go to the box above.

• Tab/Shift + Tab: move to the right/or left cell.

• Escape: Undoes the modification in a cell.

• Ctrl + Shift +: Used to insert the current time.

• Alt + H + F + C: used for coloring in Excel

Shortcuts in Excel are used for navigation

To access cells in a worksheet, we often use the ▽◁▷△ arrow keys to move up, down, left, or right. Additionally, we can use the following shortcuts in Excel:

Navigation keys in Excel

• Pgdn/Pgup: to move to the bottom or top of the worksheet.

• Alt + Pgdn/Alt + Pgup: to move the screen right or left in a worksheet.

• Ctrl + Tab, Ctrl + F6: Move between open spreadsheets.

• Ctrl + Shift + 0: Shows hidden columns in the selected area.

• Ctrl + PgUp (instead of Page Previous): to move to the sheet immediately to the left of the currently open sheet.

• Ctrl + PgDn (instead of Page Next): to move to the sheet immediately to the right after the currently open sheet.

• Ctrl+F: Go to the Find and Replace dialog box.

• Ctrl+H: to open the Find and Replace dialog box

• Shift + F4: Repeat the previous search operations.

• Ctrl + G (or F5): Displays the “Go To” dialog box.

• Ctrl + ◁/Ctrl + ▷: Inside a cell: Navigate to the cell to the left or right of this cell.

• Alt+▽: Displays the autocomplete list.

• Tab/Shift + Tab: Used to move a cell right/left.

• Home: keyboard shortcut to navigate to the first cell of a row in a worksheet.

• Ctrl + Home: to move to the first cell of the worksheet.

• Ctrl + End: Used to move to the last cell containing the contents of the worksheet.

Hopefully the above sharing will help readers understand better Meaning of Shortcut Keys in Excel. From there, apply it at work to calculate and enter data simply, saving more time!