Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

It is worth investing a small amount of time learning the Excel keyboard shortcuts for the tasks that you perform most often. You will soon find that these shortcuts can help you to work much more efficiently and therefore save lots of time in the long-term.

This page lists some of the most popular Excel keyboard shortcuts. The shortcuts have been organised into categories, to help you to find those that are of particular interest to you. It is recommended that you try to remember a few at a time, and make use of these in your day-to-day work, until they become second nature to you.

Copying and Pasting

Ctrl + C	-	Copies the current selection.
Ctrl + V	-	Pastes from the clipboard, into the currently selected cell or range of cells.
Ctrl + D	-	Fills down: If a single cell or cells in a single row are selected: copies the contents from the row above the selected range, into the selected range. if cells in more than one row are selected: copies the contents from the top row of the selected range, into all other rows of the selected range. For examples, see the Excel Copy & Paste page.
Ctrl + R	-	Fills to the right: If a single cell or cells in a single column are selected: copies the contents from the column to the left of the selected range, into the selected range. If cells in more than one column are selected: copies the contents from the first column of the selected range, into all other columns of the selected range. For examples, see the Excel Copy & Paste page.
Ctrl + Z	-	Undo the last action.

Selecting Cells

Ctrl + [Left Mouse Button]	-	Selects multiple cells. I.e. to select more than one cell (or range), first use the mouse to select on the first cell (or range), then press the CTRL key and use the mouse to select further cells or ranges.
Shift + [Left Mouse Button]	-	Selects all cells from the last selected cell to the current cell. I.e. to select a range, first use the left mouse key to click on a cell (or row or column) at the start of the range, then press the Shift key and select the cell at the end of the range.
Shift + ↓	-	Moves the current selected range down a row.
Shift + ↑	-	Moves the current selected range up a row.
Shift + →	-	Moves the current selected range right by one column.
Shift + ←	-	Moves the current selected range left by one column.
Ctrl + Shift + ↓	-	Selects all cells below the current selection, up to the edge of the current data region.
Ctrl + Shift + ↑	-	Selects all cells above the current selection, up to the edge of the current data region.
Ctrl + Shift + →	-	Selects all cells to the right of the current selection, up to the edge of the current data region.
Ctrl + Shift + ←	-	Selects all cells to the left of the current selection, up to the edge of the current data region.
Ctrl + Spacebar	-	Selects the whole of the current column(s).
Shift + Spacebar	-	Selects the whole of the current row(s).
Ctrl + A	-	Selects all cells in the current worksheet.

Find and Replace

Ctrl + F	-	Find (i.e. opens the find and replace dialog box with the 'Find' Tab selected).
Ctrl + H	-	Find & Replace(i.e. opens the find and replace dialog box with the 'Replace' Tab selected).
Shift + F4	-	Repeat the last Find request.

Selecting & Inserting Worksheets

Shift + F11	-	Insert a new worksheet into the current workbook.
Alt + Shift + F1	-	Insert a new worksheet into the current workbook.
Ctrl + PageDown	-	Move to the next worksheet in the current workbook.
Ctrl + PageUp	-	Move to the previous worksheet in the current workbook.
Shift + Ctrl + PageDown	-	Select the current worksheet and the next worksheet (if repeated, causes further sheets to be selected also).
Shift + Ctrl + PageUp	-	Select the current worksheet and the previous worksheet (if repeated, causes further sheets to be selected also).

Workbook Actions

Ctrl + S	-	Save the Current workbook (under its current name).
F12	-	Save the Current workbook as a different name.
Ctrl + O	-	Open an existing workbook.
Ctrl + N	-	Open a new workbook.
Ctrl + W	-	Close the current workbook.

Inputting Data

Ctrl + ;

Inserts the current date into a cell.

Ctrl + :

Inserts the current time into a cell.

While in edit mode within a cell, cycles through the 4 different combinations of absolute and relative references:

$A$1

A$1

$A1

Formatting Data

Ctrl + B	-	Toggles bold on/off.
Ctrl + U	-	Toggles underline on/off.
Ctrl + I	-	Toggles italic on/off.

Excel Zoom

Alt + V Z

Brings up the Excel Zoom dialog box.

A more extensive list of Excel keyboard shortcuts is provided on the Microsoft Office website.

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