40 Excel Shortcuts You’ll Definitely Want to Bookmark

Many marketers use Microsoft Excel every single day, whether it's to create a waterfall report, analyze data, or run a report to present at the next team meeting.

Creating reports like these in Excel is time-consuming enough. How can we spend a little less time navigating, formatting, selecting, and entering formulas for our data? Wouldn't it be great if there were keyboard shortcuts that could help us get our work done faster?

So glad you asked.

We’ve put together a list of 40 keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Excel. Although you can do all of these maneuvers manually, knowing these tricks will help save you time so you can focus on the stuff that really matters.

Download our free guide to Excel here to learn the essential Excel skills you should know.

All of these shortcuts can be accessed on PC and Mac, so we've included both types below if applicable.

(Note for Mac users: To access the F keys (F1–F12), you'll have to hold the Fn key before pressing any F key -- unless you've enabled those keys as standard function keys.)

40 Excel Shortcuts You'll Definitely Want to Bookmark

Navigation

These simple shortcuts can help you navigate between workbooks, sheets, rows and columns.

Shift + Enter (PC and Mac) = Move up through a selection

CTRL + ↑ (PC); Command + ↑ (Mac) = Jump to the top of a column

CTRL + ↓ (PC); Command + ↓ (Mac) = Jump to the bottom of a column

CTRL + . (PC and Mac) = Jump to the corner of a selection (Note: Rotate to each corner by repeating this keystroke)

CTRL + w (PC); Command + W (Mac) = Close the active workbook window

CTRL + Shift + F6 (PC); Command + Shift + F6 (Mac) = Switch to previous workbook window

CTRL + Tab (Mac only) = Switch to the next open worksheet

CTRL + Shift + Tab (Mac only) = Switch to the previous open worksheet (Mac)

F11 (PC and Mac) = Start a new chart sheet

Shift + F11 (PC and Mac) = Insert a new sheet

CTRL + y (PC); Command + Y (Mac) = Repeat the last action

CTRL + d (PC and Mac) = Fill selected cell with the content in the cell above selected cell

CTRL + r (PC and Mac) = Fill selected cell with the content in the cell to the left of selected cell

Formatting

Formatting in Excel can be difficult if you don't know of what you're doing. Here are a few shortcuts that to help you easily format your cells.

CTRL + F (PC); Command + F (Mac) = Find and replace values

CTRL + Shift + % (PC and Mac) = Show all values as percentages

CTRL + Shift + $ (PC and Mac) = Show all values as currency (Note: Replace $ with your own country's currency key)

CTRL  + Shift + ~ (PC and Mac) = Show all values in general number format

CTRL + Shift + & (PC); Command + Option + 0 (Mac) = Apply an outline border to selected cells

Here's what cells look like with (left) and without (right) a border:

           

 

 

CTRL + 2 (PC); Command + b (Mac) = Apply or remove bold formatting to selected cells

CTRL + 3 (PC); Command + i (Mac) = Apply or remove italic formatting to selected cells

CTRL + 9 (PC and Mac) = Hide selected rows

CTRL + Shift + ( (PC and Mac) = Unhide selected rows

CTRL + 0 (PC and Mac) = Hide selected columns

CTRL + Shift + ) (PC and Mac) = Unhide selected columns

CTRL + ; (PC and Mac) = Insert current date

CTRL + Shift + : (PC); Command + ; (Mac) = Insert current time

CTRL + k (PC); Command + k (Mac) = Insert a hyperlink

Selecting Rows & Columns

Save yourself the manual dragging and selecting rows and columns with these handy keyboard tricks.

Shift + ↑ [or] Shift + ↓ (PC and Mac) = Expand the selection by one cell either upward (↑) or downward (↓)

CTRL + Shift + Arrow Key (PC); Command + Shift + Arrow Key (Mac) = Expand the selection to the last non-empty cell

CTRL + [spacebar] (PC and Mac) = Select entire column

Shift + [spacebar] (PC and Mac) = Select entire row

CTRL + a (PC); Command + a (Mac) = Select entire sheet

Alt + ; (PC); Command + Shift + z (Mac) = Select only the visible cells in the current selection

Formulas

Formulas are a huge part of every marketer's Eccel toolkit. Here are a few shortcuts that'll make you a formula wiz.

= (i.e. press the "equals" sign; PC and Mac) = Start a formula (e.g. "=A4+A5")

Alt + (PC); Command + Shift + t (Mac) = Insert AutoSum formula

F2 (PC); CTRL + u (Mac) = Edit active cell

CTRL + a (PC and Mac) = Display the Formula Builder after you type a valid function name in a formula

Miscellaneous

Here are a few more time-saving shortcuts.

F7 (PC and Mac) = Open spelling & grammar check

Shift + F2 (PC and Mac) = Insert a comment

Control + Shift + s (PC); Command + Shift + s (Mac) = Save your work as

Can you think of any shortcuts that we missed? Feel free to add your favorites in the comments section below!