Excel keyboard shortcuts
Shortcuts are the fastest way to look fluent in Excel. Each one below has its Windows and Mac keys and, where your browser allows it, a drill you can practice in a real grid.
Shortcut speed-run
Ten shortcuts against the clock in a live grid. See how fast you are, then beat it.
Navigate
- Confirm and move downEnter
- Confirm and move leftShift+Tab
- Confirm and move rightTab
- Confirm and move upShift+Enter
- Go to cell A1Ctrl+Home
- Go to the last used cellCtrl+End
- Go to the start of the rowHome
- Jump to the last filled cell in a columnCtrl+Down
- Move one screen downPageDown
- Move one screen to the rightAlt+PageDown
- Move one screen upPageUp
- Move to the next sheetCtrl+PageDown
- Move to the previous sheetCtrl+PageUp
- Open Go ToF5
- Scroll back to the active cellCtrl+Backspace
Select
- Add another range to the selectionShift+F8
- Extend the selection by one cellShift+Right
- Select one screen downShift+PageDown
- Select the current region or the whole sheetCtrl+A
- Select the whole columnCtrl+Space
- Select the whole rowShift+Space
- Select to the last cell in useCtrl+Shift+End
- Select to the last filled cellCtrl+Shift+Down
- Select to the start of the rowShift+Home
- Select to the start of the sheetCtrl+Shift+Home
- Turn extend selection mode on or offF8
Edit
- Add or edit a noteShift+F2
- Cancel the entryEsc
- Check spellingF7
- Clear the cell contentsDelete
- CopyCtrl+C
- CutCtrl+X
- Delete the selected rows or cellsCtrl+-
- Edit the active cellF2
- Enter the same value in every selected cellCtrl+Enter
- Fill downCtrl+D
- Fill rightCtrl+R
- Insert a chart on the sheetAlt+F1
- Open a dropdown listAlt+Down
- Open the right-click menuShift+F10
- PasteCtrl+V
- Paste SpecialCtrl+Alt+V
- RedoCtrl+Y
- Repeat the last actionF4
- Start a new line in a cellAlt+Enter
- Turn filters on or offCtrl+Shift+L
- UndoCtrl+Z
Format
- Add an outline borderCtrl+Shift+7
- Apply strikethroughCtrl+5
- Apply the Currency formatCtrl+Shift+4
- Apply the Date formatCtrl+Shift+3
- Apply the Number formatCtrl+Shift+1
- Apply the Scientific formatCtrl+Shift+6
- Apply the Time formatCtrl+Shift+2
- Apply the percent formatCtrl+Shift+5
- Group rows or columnsAlt+Shift+Right
- Hide the selected columnsCtrl+0
- Hide the selected rowsCtrl+9
- Open Format CellsCtrl+1
- Ungroup rows or columnsAlt+Shift+Left
- Unhide rowsCtrl+Shift+9
Formulas
Workbook
- Close ExcelAlt+F4
- Close the workbookCtrl+W
- Create a chart on a new sheetF11
- Create a new workbookCtrl+N
- Format data as a tableCtrl+T
- Insert a new sheetShift+F11
- Open the VBA editorAlt+F11
- Open the list of macrosAlt+F8
- Save as a new fileF12
- Save the workbookCtrl+S
- Show or hide the ribbonCtrl+F1
- Switch to the next open workbookCtrl+Tab
Good to know
Why shortcuts are worth learning
A mouse is fine for things you do once a day. For the things you do a hundred times, such as jumping to the end of a column, selecting a block of data, filling a formula down or making a reference absolute, the keyboard is several times faster and never makes you hunt for a button. Watch someone who is fast in Excel, and most of the speed comes from a dozen shortcuts, not from rare functions.
Shortcuts matter in tests too. Timed Excel assessments rarely ask about them directly, but if you can jump, select and fill with the keyboard, you have more minutes left for the hard questions.
The shortcuts to learn first
Start with moving around: Ctrl and an arrow key jumps to the edge of your data, and adding Shift selects everything on the way. Then learn the editing keys: F2 to edit a cell without clearing it, Enter and Tab to confirm and move on, Esc to cancel, Ctrl+Z to undo and Ctrl+D to fill down. F4 for absolute references and Alt+= for AutoSum come next. Those ten cover most of a working day.
Once they feel automatic, pick up the format shortcuts, such as Ctrl+Shift+1 for numbers and Ctrl+Shift+5 for percentages, and the ones for switching sheets and saving.
How the drills work
Many shortcut pages have a drill: a small live grid and one task, such as jumping to the last number in a column. You press the real keys on your own keyboard, and the drill checks that the shortcut did the job, not just that you pressed something. Repeat it a few times and it starts to stick. The speed-run puts ten of them against the clock, so you can watch yourself get faster.
Some combinations, such as Ctrl+Tab, Ctrl+W and F11, belong to your browser, and a web page can't catch them. Those pages explain the shortcut and ask you to practice it in Excel itself.
Windows and Mac
Every page shows the Windows keys and the Mac keys side by side. On a Mac, Ctrl usually becomes Cmd, but not always: some Excel shortcuts keep Ctrl, and many need Fn to reach Home, End, Page Up, Page Down or the F keys on a laptop keyboard. If an F key changes the volume or brightness instead, hold Fn, or turn on standard function keys in your keyboard settings.
Other languages and keyboards
In some language versions of Excel, letter shortcuts are translated. In Danish Excel, for example, bold is Ctrl+F instead of Ctrl+B. The F keys, the arrow keys and Ctrl+Shift with a number work the same in every language, so if a colleague abroad uses a different letter for the same command, that is probably why.
Google Sheets
Many of the shortcuts for moving, selecting and formatting are the same in Google Sheets. Sheets runs in a browser, so it uses other keys where the browser has taken the Excel ones: strikethrough, for example, is Alt+Shift+5.
A little every day
Shortcuts are muscle memory, so short and often beats long and rare. Pick two or three new ones a week, use them on purpose in your own work, and run the speed-run now and then to check they have stuck. The ones you stop thinking about are the ones you have learned.