Excel Shortcut Keys

March 12, 2002 - by Bill Jelen

There are hundreds of Excel keyboard shortcuts, but no one can remember all of them. Here are a few of my favorites that you can start with.

Enter the same value in multiple cells: Select the entire range you want to fill. Type the value. Then, hit Ctrl + Enter.

Put multi-line headings in a single row of cells to make insure sorting and subtotals work correctly. Excel's sorting is much easier if you have a standard list. A list has no blank rows, no blank columns, and a single row of headings, with a non-blank heading in every cell. If you want column A to be called "Net Sales", with Net in cell A1 and Sales in A2, it will violate the "single row of headings" rule. To get around this, go to cell A1. Type Net. Then hit Alt + Enter. Type Sales and hit enter. You will then have Net Sales in a single row.

Enter the date in a cell with Ctrl + ;. Enter the time in a cell with Ctrl + :.

Copy the selection to the clipboard with Ctrl + C. Paste the contents of the clipboard with Ctrl + V.

Call up the GoTo dialog box with F5.

Edit the current cell with F2.

Do you need a quick way to change formulas into values? (This is the old /Range Value for Lotus users.) Highlight the selection. Hit Ctrl + C. Then hit Alt + e + s + v + Enter.

To select only the visible cells in the selection, type Alt + ;. This is particularly useful for selecting only the subtotal rows in a collapsed subtotal view.

To see all of the formulas in a worksheet at once, press Ctrl + `. On U.S. keyboards, the grave accent is usually under the Esc key, on the same key as the Tilde. Press the key again to toggle back to showing numbers.