Microsoft Excel Keyboard Shortcuts: The Must Know List

The more you use these shortcut, the easier you will learn them

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Best Excel keyboard shortcuts

The Microsoft Excel keyboard shortcuts will definitely make you more proficient in dealing with your tables. However, there are more than a hundred shortcuts in Excel and you can’t possibly know all. Also, some of them are rarely or never used so here’s our list with the most efficient Excel shortcuts.

What are the most efficient Excel shortcuts?

1. Frequently used shortcuts

ActionShortcut
Close a workbookCtrl + W
Open a workbookCtrl + O
Save a workbookCtrl + S
Copy selectionCtrl + C
Paste selectionCtrl + V
Undo recent actionCtrl + Z
Remove cell contentsDelete
Cut selectionCtrl + X
Apply bold formattingCtrl + B
Center align cell contentsAlt + H, A, C

2. Ribbon keyboard shortcuts

ActionShortcut
Go to the Home tabAlt + H
Go to the Insert tabAlt + N
Go to the Page Layout tabAlt + P
Go to the Data tabAlt + A
Go to the View tabAlt + W
Open the context menuShift + F10
Add bordersAlt + H, B
Delete columnAlt + H, D, C
Go to the Formula tabAlt + M
Hide the selected rowsCtrl + 9

3. Navigating in cells

ActionShortcut
Move to the edge of data regionCtrl + Arrow Key
Move to the previous cellShift + Tab
Move to the next cellTab
Move to the beginning of the rowHome
Move to the beginning of the worksheetCtrl + Home
Move to the last cell in useCtrl + End
Move one screen downPage Down
Move one screen upPage Up
Move one screen to the rightAlt + Page Down
Move one screen to the leftAlt + Page Up

3. Formatting cells

ActionShortcut
Open Format Cells dialogCtrl + 1
Apply or remove boldCtrl + B
Apply or remove italicsCtrl + I
Apply or remove underlineCtrl + U
Open the Font tab of the Format Cells dialogCtrl + Shift + F
Open the Fill tab of the Format Cells dialogAlt + H, H
Apply the General number formatCtrl + Shift + ~
Apply the Currency formatCtrl + Shift + $
Apply the Percentage formatCtrl + Shift + %
Apply the Date formatCtrl + Shift + #

4. Working with data, functions, and the formula bar

ActionShortcut
Start a new line in the same cellAlt + Enter
Insert the AutoSum formulaAlt + =
Enter the current dateCtrl + ;
Enter the current timeCtrl + Shift + :
Display the Insert Function dialogShift + F3
Calculate all worksheetsF9
Calculate active worksheetShift + F9
Insert a functionShift + F3
Toggle absolute and relative referencesF4
Display the Function Arguments dialogCtrl + A

This guide covers a wide range of shortcuts to help you work more efficiently in Excel. If you need some great Word shortcuts, click the highlighted link for the complete list. We also have a handy guide with Windows 11 shortcuts.

If you need more specific shortcuts or have any other questions, feel free to ask in the comments below.

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