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Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

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Most of us use some Excel keyboard shortcuts, and will recognise that, for frequent activities, they are a great time-saver, which help you to work much more smoothly and efficiently.

The following list of the most popular Excel shortcuts has been organised into categories, to help you to find those that are of particular interest to you. It is recommended that you try to remember a few at a time, and make use of these in your day-to-day work, whenever possible.


Copying and Pasting

CTRL-C - Copies the current selected cell or range of cells
CTRL-V - Pastes from the clipboard, into the current selected cell or range of cells
CTRL-D -
Fills down :
If a single cell or cells in a single row are selected :
- copies the contents from the row above the selected range, into the selected range
if cells in more than one row are selected :
- copies the contents from the top row of the selected range, into all other rows of the selected range
CTRL-R -
Fills to the right :
If a single cell or cells in a single column are selected :
- copies the contents from the column to the left of the selected range, into the selected range
If cells in more than one column are selected :
- copies the contents from the first column of the selected range, into all other columns of the selected range
CTRL-Z - Undo the last action


Selecting Cells

CTRL - Left Mouse Button - Selects multiple cells
i.e. to select more than one cell (or range), first use the mouse to select on the first cell (or range), then press the CTRL key and use the mouse to select further cells or ranges
SHIFT - Left Mouse Button - Selects all cells between (and including) the previous active cell and the cell that is currently being clicked in
i.e. to select a range, first use the left mouse key to click on a cell (or row or column) at the start of the range, then press the Shift key and select the cell at the end of the range
SHIFT   ↓ - Moves the current selected range down a row
SHIFT   ↑ - Moves the current selected range up a row
SHIFT   → - Moves the current selected range right by one column
SHIFT   ← - Moves the current selected range left by one column
CTRL-SHIFT   ↓ - Selects all cells below the current selection, up to the edge of the current data region
CTRL-SHIFT   ↑ - Selects all cells above the current selection, up to the edge of the current data region
CTRL-SHIFT   → - Selects all cells to the right of the current selection, up to the edge of the current data region
CTRL-SHIFT   ← - Selects all cells to the left of the current selection, up to the edge of the current data region
CTRL-Spacebar - Selects the whole of the current column(s)
CTRL-Spacebar - Selects the whole of the current row(s)
CTRL-a - Selects all cells in the current worksheet


Selecting & Inserting Worksheets

CTRL-PageDown - Move to the next worksheet in the workbook
CTRL-PageUp - Move to the previous worksheet in the workbook
SHIFT-F11 - Insert a new worksheet into the current workbook
ALT-SHIFT-F1 - Insert a new worksheet into the current workbook
SHIFT-CTRL-PageDown - Select the current worksheet and the next worksheet
(if repeated, causes further sheets to be selected also)
SHIFT-CTRL-PageUp - Select the current worksheet and the previous worksheet
(if repeated, causes further sheets to be selected also)


Inputting Data

CTRL - ; - Inserts the current date into a cell
CTRL - : - Inserts the current time into a cell
F4 - While in edit mode within a cell, cycles through the 4 different combinations of absolute and relative references :
A1
$A$1
A$1
$A1


More Excel keyboard shortcuts are listed on the Microsoft Office website.