Keyboard Shortcuts to Help You Excel in Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is a great tool to organize data into spreadsheets, but it’s kind of a tricky beast to master. As is the case with most software programs, you can add an extra level of mastery to your skillset by having a full understanding of keyboard shortcuts. We’ve listed some of the most common shortcuts that you might use during your day-to-day duties in Microsoft Excel.

You can even print out this blog article and use it as a resource throughout the workday! That way, you’ll have a quick reference should you ever need one.

• Cut: Ctrl + X
• Copy: Ctrl + C
• Paste: Ctrl + V
• Open a Workbook: Ctrl + O
• Close a Workbook: Ctrl + W
• Save a Workbook: Ctrl + S
• Undo: Ctrl + Z
• Navigate between cells and menu options: Arrow Keys
• Expand/Collapse Ribbon: Ctrl + F1
• Move to the beginning of the worksheet: Ctrl + Home
• Move to the next sheet in the workbook: Ctrl + Page Down
• Move to the previous sheet in the workbook: Ctrl + Page Up

Entering Information in Cells

If you want to add information into cells, there are various shortcuts to doing so as well:

• Enter the current time: Ctrl + Shift + :
• Enter the current date: Ctrl + ;
• Apply the General Number format: Ctrl + Shift + ~
• Apply the Currency format with two decimal places: Ctrl + Shift + $
• Apply the Percentage format with no decimal places: Ctrl + Shift + %
• Apply the Scientific number format with two decimal places: Ctrl + Shift + ^
• Apply the Date format with the day, month, and year: Ctrl + Shift + #
• Apply the Time format with the hour and minute, and AM or PM: Ctrl + Shift + @
• Apply the Number format with two decimal places, thousands separator, and minus sign for negative values: Ctrl + Shift + !

This only scratches the surface of what Excel is capable of. If you want even more keyboard shortcuts in addition to the ones that we’ve picked out, Microsoft details even more of them on its website.

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