There are hundreds of Excel keyboard shortcuts, from simple shortcuts like navigating with the arrow keys, to lesser-known shortcuts like removing borders with Ctrl Shift _ (⌘ ⌥ _ on Mac). It’s near impossible to remember and learn them all, so you need to decide what’s worth learning.
To help you out, in this article we take a look at some of the most useful (but not completely obvious) Excel keyboard shortcuts that will save you time.
Edit the active cell
Need to edit a cell? Don’t reach for your mouse and double click, just hit F2 instead (Control U on Mac)
Format options
If you want to apply anything other than basic formatting to your cells, you can bring up the full formatting menu with Ctrl 1 (⌘ 1 on Mac)
Flash Fill
Flash Fill is where Excel detects patterns in your data and fills the remaining cells for you. Often, Excel will automatically give you a preview of the data it predicts you want, and you can just hit enter to confirm.
If this isn’t the case, then you can press CTRL E to get Flash Fill to work, and you’ll find Excel is remarkably good at getting things right:
Add a hyperlink
Ctrl K (⌘ K on Mac) will bring up the hyperlink options, allowing you to add a link to another place in your document, another document entirely, or a website address. Super useful!
Apply the percentage format
If you find calculating percentages in Excel is something you do a lot you’ll find this shortcut useful. You can apply the percentage format with Ctrl Shift % (Control ⇧ % on Mac).
Apply the percentage format
Like percentages, working with monetary values in Excel is also very common. To apply percentage formatting, press Ctrl Shift $ (Control ⇧ $ on Mac).
Go To
The ‘Go To’ box in Excel can be accessed with Ctrl G (Control G on Mac). From here, you can easily navigate around a workbook, but perhaps more importantly, you can access the ‘Go To Special‘ box which provides a range of options, such as being able to navigate to blank cells:
Create a table
Tables are a great feature in Excel, and you can create them with the easy-to-remember keyboard shortcut of Ctrl T (⌘ T on Mac):
