Want to become more efficient using Excel? Let me show you the best keyboard shortcuts in Excel. Anyone who has ever attended training with me, or even anyone who has read my other “shortcut key” posts, should know that I am a big fan of shortcuts. Anything that can improve efficiency and workflow is a good thing in my books. Because I often multi-task on the computer, I tend to use many of these shortcut keys on a very regular basis.
If you plan to start using keyboard shortcuts, start small. Don’t try to memorise them all in one go. Break them down into a hand full of the shortcuts you think you will use most often. Once you have those locked into memory then identify the next group and continue until you have mastered shortcuts like a pro!
Below is a list of my favourite shortcuts to use in Microsoft Excel. Don’t worry about writing these ones down, you can receive a PDF copy of all keyboard shortcut lists at the bottom of this post.
My Favourite Shortcut Keys
| Shortcut Keys | Description |
| Ctrl + N | Create a New workbook |
| Ctrl + O | Open an existing workbook |
| Ctrl + F12 | Display the Open dialog box |
| Ctrl + S | Save current workbook |
| Ctrl + P | Print current workbook |
| Ctrl + W | Close current workbook |
| Ctrl + A | Select entire worksheet |
| Ctrl + Z | Undo. Undo. Undo. Need I say more? |
| Ctrl + Y | Redo the last action |
| Ctrl + X | Cut |
| Ctrl + C | Copy |
| Ctrl + V | Paste |
| Ctrl + B | Apply Bold formatting |
| Ctrl + I | Apply Italics formatting |
| Ctrl + U | Apply Underline formatting |
| Ctrl + F | Find text or formatting within the current workbook |
| Ctrl + H | Find and replace text or formatting within the current workbook |
| Ctrl + G | Use the Go To feature |
| Ctrl + K | Insert a hyperlink |
| Ctrl + E | Flash Fill |
| Ctrl + 1 | Display the Format Cells dialog box |
| Alt | Turn KeyTips on and off |
| TAB | Move one cell to the right |
| Ctrl + mouse wheel | Scroll the mouse wheel up to zoom in and down to zoom out |
| Alt + Tab | Switch between open program windows |
| F1 | Launch Help |
| F2 | Edit the current cell |
| F4 | Repeat the last action |
| F7 | Spell Check |
| F11 | Create a chart from current data |
| F12 | Save As |
| Ctrl + Home | Move the cursor to cell A1 |
| Ctrl + End | Move the cursor to last cell containing data |
| Ctrl + Shift + ~ | Apply a General Number format |
| Ctrl + Shift + $ | Apply a Currency Number format |
| Ctrl + Shift + % | Apply a Percentage Number format |
| Ctrl + Space Bar | Select current column |
| Shift+ Space Bar | Select current row |
| Shift + Home | Highlight from the current cell back to column A of the row |
| Ctrl + Shift + Home | Highlight from the current cell back to cell A1 |
| Ctrl + Shift + End | Highlight from the current cell to the last cell containing data |
| Ctrl + Page UP | Move between worksheets (Right to Left) |
| Ctrl + Page Down | Move between worksheets (Left to Right) |
That’s the list of my favourite shortcuts in Excel. To see a full list of all shortcuts available in Excel, use the F1 key to access the built-in Microsoft Excel Help feature and search for keyboard shortcuts.
Be sure to check out my other posts for keyboard shortcuts to use in Microsoft OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word,
I love hearing about shortcut combinations that other people use so feel free to comment below if you have a favourite combination not listed here.
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