Left Hand Short Cuts
There are lots of shortcuts available on Excel but I’m not proposing to list all of them here.
Unless you’ve got a very good memory they’re not worth the effort of learning.
Most of the time when I’m using Excel worksheets (that is, when I’m not writing code) I’ll be using the mouse with my right hand. So it is the left hand shortcuts that become very useful. Stick your left pinky on the Ctrl button and select your option.
The most used must be: Cut, Copy, Paste.
These three are next to each other on the bottom of a QWERTY keyboard.
Cut:
Copy:
Paste:
Ctrl-X
Ctrl-C
Ctrl-V
Cut: Ctrl-X
Copy: Ctrl-C
Paste: Ctrl-V
Copying from neighbouring cells?
Copy from above use Ditto:
Copy right from cell on left:
Ctrl-D
Ctrl-R
Copy from above use Ditto: Ctrl-D
Copy right from cell on left: Ctrl-R
Got it wrong? Undo!
Undo:
Ctrl-Z
Undo: Ctrl-Z
Then decide it was right afterall
Redo:
Ctrl-Y
Redo: Ctrl-Y
Don’t forget to save every now and again,
You never know when someone might turn the power off!
Save:
Close the Worksheet:
Ctrl-S
Ctrl-W
Save: Ctrl-S
Close the Worksheet: Ctrl-W
If you have saved, then pressing Crl-W will close your workbook without checking, otherwise you will be asked for confirmation.
There’s a number of routes to the Format Cells dialogue, but the quickest is:
Fotmat Cells Dialog:
Ctrl-1
Fotmat Cells Dialog: Ctrl-1
Note that this must be the 1 from the top row of the keyboard, not from the keypad if you have one.
Tried to press Ctrl-1 and your spreadsheet went odd with all the formulae showing?
You pressed Ctrl-` (That’s the button to the left of the 1 which has different entries on differnt keyboards. Mine has ` ¬ ¦ on it.)
Toggle between forumlae and results:
Ctrl-`
Toggle forumlae – results: Ctrl-‘
This enables you to quickly view the formulae behind your results, and quickly back.
Selecting a group of cells.
Select All:
Ctrl-A
Select All: Ctrl-A
This has different impact depending on what is selected.
If you’re within a Table, Ctrl-A will select the whole table.
If your selected cell or the ones directly below or on the right is not empty then Excel will select a range including those cells.
If your cell and those around it are all blank then Excel will select the whole worksheet.
Search and Replace
Open Search Dialog:
Open Search and Replace Dialog:
Ctrl-F
Ctrl-H
Search Dialog: Ctrl-F
Search and Replace Dialog: Ctrl-H
A couple of other useful left-hand shortcuts.
Open GoTo dialog:
Open Create Table dialog:
Ctrl-G
Ctrl-T
GoTo dialog: Ctrl-G
Create Table dialog: Ctrl-T