Shortcuts in Excel for Windows: save your work time

In the following post we give you everything you need to know about shortcuts in Excel for Windows. Get ready to save a lot of time and increase your productivity when using Microsoft Excel.

The basics

The shortcuts or shortcuts in Excel are nothing more than ways to perform different tasks (open a new document, save your work, expand the cell selection, etc.), using keyboard buttons instead of mouse clicks. It can significantly speed up your work once you incorporate these shortcuts into your daily tasks.

Before you start: locate yourself inside your keyboard

Ninja Tip: If you have a Mac computer, then we recommend this other one post. 

Before you can use Excel for Windows shortcuts, it is very important that you know where the keys used for these shortcuts are and what they are called. 

Shift, Shift, or “up arrow” key.

This key is found twice on your keyboard, on the left and on the right. 

Ctrl key 

It's also on the Windows keyboard twice, within reach of each hand. 

Alt key

It appears as Alt on the left and Alt Gr on the right. Both keys do not always perform the same functions, so you'll want to stick to Alt (NOT Gr) when this key is indicated. 

Tab key or “the two little arrows, one for each side”

You probably know this one as the one that generates indentation at the beginning of a text. Its other main function is to be a shortcut to switch between different objects on the screen. We will see it in detail later. 

Ninja Tip:  You can switch between active windows on your computer using the Alt + Tab shortcut. It is especially useful when you are working in two different Excel workbooks and have to constantly switch between them. 

Fn key 

This button is used to access the secondary functions that some buttons on your keyboard have, especially in the event that you have a laptop whose keyboard is smaller and therefore many buttons fulfill two or more functions. You may not have this key if you use a desktop computer with a large keyboard, since each button there has its own function. 

On Windows:

F keys, or those that we never know what they are for but now they will be very useful. 

Ninja Tip: Some computers have the letters F configured for other functions, such as adjusting the volume, screen brightness, or full screen mode. If this is your case, then to use the F keys you must press the “fn” key at the same time. 

The essential shortcuts

These shortcuts do not only apply to Excel, but to any action you want to do of this type on your computer:

Action	Shortcut
Copy	Ctrl + C
Cut	Ctrl + X
Paste	Ctrl + V
Undo	Ctrl + Z
Redo	Ctrl + Y

Shortcuts for actions in an Excel workbook

These shortcuts are used for actions that apply to the entire document in Excel. They are also used in other Office applications.  

Action	Shortcut
Open	Ctrl + A
Open new	Ctrl+U
Keep	Ctrl + G
Save as	F12
New sheet	Shift + F11
Move between leaves	Ctrl + Page Down or Ctrl + Page Up

Excel shortcuts for a sheet

This new series that we leave you below corresponds exclusively to Excel shortcuts for Windows. Most are used repeatedly within a document. 

Action	Shortcut
Open cell format window	Ctrl + 1
Bold font	Ctrl+N
Italics	Ctrl+K
Underlined	Ctrl + S
Add a filter	Ctrl + Shift + L
Add a chart	Alt + F1
Add a table	Ctrl + T
Drag formula down	Ctrl + J
Drag formula to the right	Ctrl + D
Search for and replace	Ctrl + B
Edit the content of a cell	F2
Set a cell	F4
Insert row	Shift + Space and Ctrl + “+”
delete Row	Shift + Space and Ctrl + “-“
Insert cell	Ctrl + “+”
Delete cell	Ctrl + “-“
Insert column	Ctrl + Space and Ctrl + “+”
Delete column	Ctrl + Space and Ctrl + “-“
Move through cells	Arrows
Select cells	Shift + arrow
Select cells to the end	Ctrl + Shift + arrow
Select column	Ctrl + Space
Select row	Alt + Space
Select function in autocomplete	Arrow + Tab
Select all cells	Ctrl + E

Shortcuts to navigate the toolbar

Excel allows you to navigate the toolbar with the keyboard. It is another way to make shortcuts, especially for those actions that have no alternative with the keys mentioned above. It is basically the same as clicking, but through pressing buttons. 

Ninja Tip:  This type of shortcut works for any other Office application, such as Word or Power Point.

Step 1: Press the Alt key. 

We see that a square with a letter was placed on each of the toolbar tabs. That square indicates the letter that must be pressed to access that tab. For example, if after Alt, you press the “O” key, you will access the “Home” tab. If you press the B key instead, you will access the “Insert” tab. 

Step 2: Select the letter (or set of letters) to access the tab you need. For example, we will press “O” to access the Home tab. After pressing “O”, the “posters” change because we are located within the tab we selected. Now, if you were to press “F” and then “U”, you could edit the source. If you pressed “1” then you would select the bold format, and so on.

This process may end after two successions or you may have to continue pressing keys to reach what you need. For example, if you pressed “BB”, then the “Borders” list would open, and there you would have to select the option you need again. 

With this, you will have the shortcut to make a bottom border would be Alt + O + B + B + O. 

Shortcuts in the quick access bar

If there are functions that you repeat a lot during your work and you would prefer to have them even closer at your fingertips, you can pin them to the quick access and access them using the “Alt” shortcuts. It is a way to create new shortcuts within your Excel spreadsheet. 

Step 1: Select “File” and then “Options”. In honor of this post, you can do it all with keyboard shortcuts by pressing Alt + A + O. 

Step 2: In the Excel Options window, scroll down to “Quick Access Toolbar.” 

Step 3: In the box on the right, select the tool you want to add to the quick access. In this case we will add “Format Painter”. Move with Tab to change boxes and then with the arrows when you are inside the box. 

Step 3: Select add by pressing Tab twice and then Enter. You will see “Format Painter” appear in the box to the right of the window. 

Step 5: Select “OK”. You can get there by pressing Tab until the “OK” button is surrounded by a green box. Then press Enter. 

We see that the “Format Painter” icon has been added to the quick access bar. 

Step 5: Select the cells you want to copy the formatting to. Then press Alt. You will see that in this case, you have to press 5 to copy the format. 

Ready! You created a new shortcut. Now just by pressing Alt + 5 you will be able to copy the format of the cells you have selected. If you press smaller numbers, 1 through 4, you would select shortcuts for the other toolbar items, such as save or undo. If you notice, these shortcuts can also be achieved with Ctrl + G and Ctrl + Z, but the location on the screen may suit you better, or you may prefer to see the keys you must press to achieve the function. 

We hope you liked this article about the most used Excel shortcuts in Windows and that from now on, you will be a true Excel Ninja by using only your keyboard.