Excel is widely used in corporate, personal, and institutional settings due to its versatility and capacity to act as a visual basis for various applications. We are sure everyone would agree. Additionally, you would admit that shortcuts significantly simplify our lives. However, it might be challenging to remember and retain all of the shortcuts for Excel. Besides, how frequently do we use Google to find a shortcut? Therefore, we have provided a list of shortcuts in this post. Although you cannot remember them all, it is helpful to have a list that is easily accessible.
Microsoft Excel is the go-to product for working with data and analytics. Because of the many built-in features and practical shortcuts make it simpler to arrange data.
Let us study in detail what Microsoft Excel is and the importance of maintaining an Excel sheet in today’s business world.
Defining Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a highly robust and old program created by Microsoft in 1984. It is still widely used for spreadsheet processing, commercial operations, accounting, social media marketing, etc. In addition, it is widely used worldwide to store, record, analyze, and show data. Further, let us discuss the importance of using Excel shortcuts in today’s business environment.
Importance of Excel
- Excel’s first and foremost importance is that it increases productivity in the workplace by saving time from extra clicks.
- This tool may be used to quickly create spreadsheets for a company’s annual sales and other purposes. It can add, subtract, multiply, and divide hundreds of integers at once thanks to a sizable software packed with equations, and it can simply redo it if a value is modified or added.
- You can use the same application and view the same file remotely using a web-enabled PC, mobile device, or tablet. This makes it simple to make changes if you can’t reach your PC but need to share the spreadsheet immediately!
- Businesses may make the essential information stand out from the rest by using numerous formatting options, such as italics, highlighting, and colors. The number of operations completed with this tool is astounding, including, to mention a few, highlighting a whole row and comparing lists and values.
What are the main reasons for starting to use Excel?
This is your cue to start using Excel shortcuts and be proficient in using them to save time and energy. With shortcuts, the application will become interesting enough to use, and you will not find it boring.
- To work faster and be more efficient.
- To manage an extensive amount of data.
- To make your work more accurate without any errors.
- To make significant calculations easy without making it tedious or worrying about their formulas.
- To increase speed.
Important Excel shortcuts you must know
Here, we have divided the shortcuts into different categories, from frequently used shortcuts to other formatting keys.
General Shortcut Keys
| Ctrl+O | To open an existing workbook |
| Ctrl+N | To open a new workbook |
| Ctrl+W | To close a workbook |
| Ctrl+H | To go to the Home tab |
| Ctrl+9 | To hide selected rows |
| Ctrl+0 | To hide selected columns |
| Ctrl+C | To copy the selection |
| Delete | To remove cell content |
| Ctrl+X | To cut selection |
| Ctrl+Z | To undo |
| Ctrl+N | To got to Insert tab |
| Ctrl+W | To got to View tab |
| Ctrl+A | To got to Data tab |
These are the commonly used shortcut keys. Now let us understand the shortcuts used for formatting.
Formatting Shortcuts
| Alt+M | Go to the Formula tab |
| Alt+H+ B | Add borders |
| Alt+H+H | To fill colors |
| Ctrl+ Shift+& | To apply outline border |
| Ctrl+Shift+_ | To remove a border |
| Ctrl+Shift+$ | To use currency format |
| Ctrl+Shift+% | To use percentage |
| Ctrl+; | To insert the current date in active cell |
| Ctrl+Shift+; | To insert current time in an active cell |
| Ctrl+B | To add or remove bold from the selected contents |
| Ctrl+I | To add or remove italics from the selected contents |
| Ctrl+U | To add or remove underline from the selected contents |
Now, let us move on to the pivot table shortcut keys.
Pivot Table Shortcut keys: A pivot table means rearranging and reorganizing data from pacific columns and rows in a spreadsheet or database to get the desired report. It simply means turning the data to view it from a different perspective. A pivot table summarizes vast volumes of data interactively and quickly.
| Shift+F10 | To open the context menu for the selected cell, column, or row. |
| Ctrl+M | To Move the table. |
| Ctrl+D | To Delete the table. |
| Ctrl+R | To Rename the table. |
| Ctrl+A | Select the entire table. |
| Ctrl+Y | Redo the last action. |
| Ctrl+Spacebar | To select the current column |
| Shift+Space | To select the current row |
| Alt+Shift+Right Arrow | To group items on pivot table |
| Alt+Shift+Left Arrow | To ungroup items on the pivot table |
| Alt+F1 | To create charts on the same pivot table |
| F11 | To create a new pivot table on a new worksheet |
Conclusion
There are many more shortcuts apart from these, but these are some of the most important and basic shortcut keys that you must be aware of. I hope you’ve discovered a few new ones you can utilize to improve your Excel experience.
Although some of these shortcuts may initially appear cumbersome, if you get the hang of them, they may significantly speed up your work pace! On Windows computers, each of these shortcuts ought to function, although Mac inputs can change. And if you are new to Excel spreadsheets, this guide can benefit you. So, if you haven’t started shortcuts yet, we have stated enough reasons for you to start today.
