What is Microsoft Excel?
Although many of you are already aware of Excel, let’s have a small introduction anyways. Microsoft Excel is an application developed by Microsoft that is used to record, analyze, and visualize data. Excel, a spreadsheet application, was developed by Microsoft in 1985.
Data in Excel is in the form of rows and columns. Excel is commonly used to record and analyze data, perform mathematical operations, and visualize structured data in charts and graphs. Finally, another important application of Excel is that it helps in automating tasks through excel macros.
To perform the tasks mentioned above quickly, Excel has a set of shortcuts. Various operations can be achieved with a few simple keyboard strokes. Let’s dive deep into the Excel shortcuts that can help us work better on an Excel spreadsheet
Workbook Shortcut Keys
In this section, we will understand the basics of operating a workbook. We will learn how to create a new workbook, open an existing workbook, and save a spreadsheet so that you don’t lose any data or calculations that you have done. We will then go through how you can toggle between several different sheets in a workbook.
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Description |
Excel Shortcuts |
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1. To create a new workbook |
Ctrl + N |
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2. To open an existing workbook |
Ctrl + O |
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3. To save a workbook/spreadsheet |
Ctrl + S |
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4. To close the current workbook |
Ctrl + W |
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5. To close Excel |
Ctrl + F4 |
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6. To move to the next sheet |
Ctrl + PageDown |
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7. To move to the previous sheet |
Ctrl + PageUp |
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8. To go to the Data tab |
Alt + A |
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9. To go to the View tab |
Alt + W |
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10. To go the Formula tab |
Alt + M |
Cell Formatting Shortcut Keys
A cell in Excel holds all the data that you are working on. Several different shortcuts can be applied to a cell, such as editing a cell, aligning cell contents, adding a border to a cell, adding an outline to all the selected cells, and many more. Here is a sneak peek into these Excel shortcuts.
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Description |
Excel Shortcuts |
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11. To edit a cell |
F2 |
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12. To copy and paste cells |
Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V |
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13. To italicize and make the font bold |
Ctrl + I, Ctrl + B |
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14. To center align cell contents |
Alt + H + A + C |
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15. To fill color |
Alt + H + H |
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16. To add a border |
Alt + H + B |
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17. To remove outline border |
Ctrl + Shift + _ |
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18. To add an outline to the select cells |
Ctrl + Shift + & |
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19. To move to the next cell |
Tab |
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20. To move to the previous cell |
Shift + Tab |
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21. To select all the cells on the right |
Ctrl + Shift + Right arrow |
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22. To select all the cells on the left |
Ctrl + Shift + Left Arrow |
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23. To select the column from the selected cell to the end of the table |
Ctrl + Shift + Down Arrow |
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24. To select all the cells above the selected cell |
Ctrl + Shift + Up Arrow |
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25. To select all the cells below the selected cell |
Ctrl + Shift + Down Arrow |
Row and Column Formatting Shortcut Keys
In this section, we’ll look at some critical row and column formatting shortcuts.
We will understand how to delete rows and columns, hide and unhide the selected rows and columns, and group and ungroup rows and columns.
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Description |
Excel Shortcuts |
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36. To select the entire row |
Shift + Space |
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37. To select the entire column |
Ctrl + Space |
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38. To delete a column |
Alt+H+D+C |
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39. To delete a row |
Shift + Space, Ctrl + – |
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40. To hide selected row |
Ctrl + 9 |
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41. To unhide selected row |
Ctrl + Shift + 9 |
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42. To hide a selected column |
Ctrl + 0 |
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43. To unhide a selected column |
Ctrl + Shift + 0 |
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44. To group rows or columns |
Alt + Shift + Right arrow |
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45. To ungroup rows or columns |
Alt + Shift + Left arrow |