Microsoft Excel is extensively used all around the globe to store as well as analyze data. Though there are various new data analytics tools in the market, Excel still remains the go-to product for working with and on data. Excel has numerous in-built features, which makes it easier for users to organize their data.
Shortcut keys in Excel help you work on data instantly, by cutting out the time required for navigation. In this article, I will provide show you various Excel shortcuts, some you might know, and others you might not. These keyboard shortcuts can be used to perform tasks faster as well as effectively.
What is the Need for Excel Shortcuts in Excel?
Excel supports a plethora of keyboard shortcuts that will help you work efficiently as well as help in increasing productivity. Instead of you accessing the toolbar using a mouse, two or three keystrokes can be used to perform the same significant functions. Which makes the process easier as well as time-saving. Using Excel shortcuts will drastically increase the speed, which in turn reduces work time.
Do you have to memorize all of these shortcuts, the answer is no because you can revisit this article any time you want, to take a look at specific shortcuts you want. However, it would be an advantage for you if you do remember a few of them, the ones you will likely use the most. If not, with regular practice, you will easily remember most of the common Excel shortcuts.
Below you can take a look at the top 50 Excel shortcuts, which you should know when working on Microsoft Excel. These 50 Excel shortcuts have been categorized based on their operations. First, up are the workbook shortcut keys.
Workbook Shortcut Keys
In this section, you will see and understand the basics of operating a workbook. Here, you will learn how to create a new workbook, open an existing workbook, and save a spreadsheet, using shortcuts so that you do not lose any data or calculations that you performed. There are also shortcuts that will help you toggle between several different sheets in a workbook.
| Description | Excel Shortcuts |
| 1. To create a new workbook | Ctrl + N |
| 2. To close the current workbook | Ctrl + W |
| 3. To close Excel | Ctrl + F4 |
| 4. To open an existing workbook | Ctrl + O |
| 5. To save a workbook/spreadsheet | Ctrl + S |
| 6. To move to the next sheet | Ctrl + Page Down |
| 7. To move to the previous sheet | Ctrl + Page Up |
| 8. To visit the Formula tab | Alt + M |
| 9. To visit the View tab | Alt + W |
| 10. To visit the Data tab | Alt + A |
Cell Formatting Shortcut Keys
A cell holds all the data that you are working on. There are several different shortcuts you can apply to a cell, for example editing a cell, aligning cell contents, adding a border to a cell, and adding an outline to all the selected cells, among many more. Given below are a few of the most useful cell formatting shortcuts.
| Description | Excel Shortcuts |
| 1. To edit a cell | F2 |
| 2. To copy and paste cells | Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V |
| 3. To italicize and make the font bold | Ctrl + I, Ctrl + B |
| 4. To center align cell contents | Alt + H + A + C |
| 5. To fill color | Alt + H + H |
| 6. To add a border | Alt + H + B |
| 7. To remove outline border | Ctrl + Shift + _ |
| 8. To add an outline to the select cells | Ctrl + Shift + & |
| 9. To move to the next cell | Tab |
| 10. To move to the previous cell | Shift + Tab |
| 11. To select all the cells on the right | Ctrl + Shift + Right arrow |
| 12. To select all the cells on the left | Ctrl + Shift + Left Arrow |
| 13. To select the column from the selected cell to the end of the table | Ctrl + Shift + Down Arrow |
| 14. To select all the cells above the selected cell | Ctrl + Shift + Up Arrow |
| 15. To select all the cells below the selected cell | Ctrl + Shift + Down Arrow |
You have the ability to add a comment to a cell. Comments prove to be helpful when giving extra information about the cell content. In the shortcuts given below, you can learn how to find value as well as replace it with another value in the spreadsheet. I have also given shortcuts to how to insert the current time, and current date, activate a filter, as well as add a hyperlink to a cell. You can even see the shortcut to apply a format to the data in a cell.
| Description | Excel Shortcuts |
| 1. To add a comment to a cell | Shift + F2 |
| 2. To delete a cell comment | Shift + F10 + D |
| 3. To display find and replace | Ctrl + H |
| 4. To activate the filter | Ctrl + Shift + L Alt + Down Arrow |
| 5. To insert the current date | Ctrl + ; |
| 6. To insert current time | Ctrl + Shift + : |
| 7. To insert a hyperlink | Ctrl + k |
| 8. To apply the currency format | Ctrl + Shift + $ |
| 9. To apply the percent format | Ctrl + Shift + % |
| 10. To go to the “Tell me what you want to do” box | Alt + Q |
Row and Column Formatting Shortcut Keys
Below I have given some critical row and column formatting shortcuts. You will be able to see how to delete rows and columns, hide and unhide the selected rows and columns, as well as how to group and ungroup rows and columns.
| Description | Excel Shortcuts |
| 1. To select the entire row | Shift + Space |
| 2. To select the entire column | Ctrl + Space |
| 3. To delete a column | Alt+H+D+C |
| 4. To delete a row | Shift + Space, Ctrl + – |
| 5. To hide selected row | Ctrl + 9 |
| 6. To unhide selected row | Ctrl + Shift + 9 |
| 7. To hide a selected column | Ctrl + 0 |
| 8. To unhide a selected column | Ctrl + Shift + 0 |
| 9. To group rows or columns | Alt + Shift + Right arrow |
| 10. To ungroup rows or columns | Alt + Shift + Left arrow |
Pivot Table Shortcut Keys
Given below are the different shortcuts to summarize your data using a pivot table.
| 1. To group pivot table items | Alt + Shift + Right arrow |
| 2. To ungroup pivot table items | Alt + Shift + Left arrow |
| 3. To hide pivot table items | Ctrl + – |
| 4. To create a pivot chart on the same sheet | Alt + F1 |
| 5. To create a pivot chart on a new worksheet | F11 |
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