Keyboard Accelerators & Shortcut keys for Microsoft Excel 2007 & 2010 (backward compatible with 2003)

Author: Rahul Singh Lamba

For Power users of Microsoft Excel, the mouse should never be an option! This guide aims to cover over 90% of all accelerators that are backward compatible all the way back to MS Excel 2003. We are not suggesting that this is an exhaustive list. But it will certainly hold up to your routine tasks. Beginners will probably find Excels help menu more informative as this guide barely covers the traditional shortcuts. The focus here is on accelerators (hidden shortcut keys) that are not commonly available.

Navigation & other commonly used commands

Ctrl + Pg up/down Go to the previous/next sheet

Ctrl + Shift + Pg up/down

Selects multiple sheets simultaneously. This is usually indicated by [Group] appearing after the name of the file on the top of the window. Whatever done on one sheet (barring a few exceptions) will be filled across all sheets simultaneously. Now you wont blame the Excel ghost for this commonly encountered problem!

Alt + Enter

Wraps text when within a cell (i.e. Edit mode)

Ctrl + Enter

Fills the entire range with the formula in the active cell (a range must be first selected)

Alt + =

Enters sum formula prompt (selects a range to the last non blank cell). When done for >2 rows or columns it automatically adds, without prompting! It may also be used for sub-totaling (when data above/to the left of the cell uses multiple sum functions and is cohesive i.e. is without blank cells. Note: it will also not work if the sign in any of the sum functions is deliberately changed!) When used with filters it automatically subtotals

Ctrl + ;

Enters current date in mm/dd/yyyy format (is not

dynamic!)

Ctrl + Shift + ;

Enters current time in hh:mm AM/PM format

Ctrl + Shift + *

Selects the active table alone (more usable for the purpose than the one above)

Alt + Down Arrow

Selects drop-downs in situations like filtering, data validation and for auto-filling Does not work with form boxes!

Manipulating Rows, Columns & Cells

Alt, I, R/C or Ctrl + Shift + + 'R' Adds a row above while 'C' adds a column to the left

Alt, E, D or Ctrl + -

Delete rows, columns or cells

Alt, O, R, E

Change Row height. Can be used for simultaneously changing heights of multiple rows.

Alt, O, C, W or Right Click, C, C, Enter

Change Column Width. Can be used for simultaneously changing width of multiple columns.

Alt, O, C, S

Shows the Standard width. Apparently, for being copied and pasted to those rows that are not of standard width. Of course, you may use Alt, E, S, W but that may not give you the standard width!

Alt, O, R/C, A

Applies a best fit to the Row or Column. Alt, O, R, A also unhides rows!

Alt, O, R, H or Ctrl + (

Hides a row/s

Alt, O, C, H or

Hides column/s

Ctrl + )

Alt, O, R, U or Ctrl + Shift + (

Unhides row/s. To unhide, select one row above & below the row/s that are hidden

Alt, O, C, U or Ctrl + Shift + )

Unhides column/s. To unhide, select one column before & after the column/s that are hidden. At times this does not work, in such cases select the entire sheet first

Alt, D, G, G or Shift + Alt + Right arrow

To group rows/columns

Alt, D, G, U or Shift + Alt + Left arrow

To ungroup rows/columns.

Alt, D, G, H/S

Toggle between showing and hiding detail within a group. The best part is that you need not select the entire grouped area! You could also use row/column hide/unhide to do this.

Alt, D, G, A or Ctrl + 8

Auto Outline

Alt, D, G, E

Activates the Settings box. Can be used to change the direction of grouping. I.e. Above/ below for row grouping and left/right for column grouping

Workbook or Sheet related

Shift + F11 or Alt, I, W or Alt + Shift + F1 Adds a sheet (to the left)

Alt, E, L

Deletes the active sheet

Ctrl + N

Creates a workbook

Alt, O, H, R

Rename a sheet

Alt, E, M

Activates the Move or copy box. Used for moving, copying, exchanging sheets inter/intra workbook

Alt, O, H, H

Hides the active sheet

Alt, O, H, U

Unhides a sheet, or shows a Unhide box in case of multiple hidden sheets

Alt, O, H, B

Change sheet background using pictures (while printing Excel excludes the picture!)

Alt, O, H, T

Change color of the active sheet tab

Manipulating the view

Alt, V, U Fullscreen (to return to normal view hit Esc). Is best suited for presentations In this mode, none of the accelerators are accessible!

Alt, V, Z

Choose given magnification (or customize). Use the underlined letters combined with Alt to choose magnification. E.g. Alt + 2 for 200% magnification and Alt + C for custom magnification. A trick to achieve this is to hit F6 (gets you down to the page view bar) and then watch the highlighted area (in light orange) to navigate to the - or + sign followed by hitting enter single or multiple times to get to the desired zoom level (in increment of 10%age points)! You may also hit the percentage sign (usually showing 100%) to go to custom magnification.

Alt, V, H

Sets the Print page layout and activates the header

Alt, V, P

Sets the gray screen i.e. page view

Ctrl + Shift + U

Toggles size of the formula bar

Alt, W, F

Hides the formula bar

Alt, V, V

Activates the Custom views box. It helps record a wide array of custom views (such as freeze panes, custom magnifications, formula bars, hidden rows/columns/sheets, ribbon etc.) and then may be used for quickly toggling between different views truly awesome!)

Ctrl + F1

Toggles between hiding/showing the ribbon

Ctrl + F10

Maximizes current excel window (not the application!)

Ctrl + F9

Minimizes the current excel window (not the application!)

Formatting & related

Shift + F10 Right click, In case your keyboard does not have one! (between the Alt & Ctrl keys on RHS)

Ctrl + 1 or Alt, O, E

Activates the Format cells box. Contrary to popular belief the arrow keys cannot always be used to move between the 6 tabs! To do that, it is best to use Ctrl + pg up or pg dn within the box. Tip: Within the number tab, use the first letter of the number format as the shortcut. For e.g. typing c once takes you to currency and twice gets you to custom format

Ctrl + Shift + P or Ctrl + Shift + F

Directly gets you to the Font tab within the Format cells box. You may use Tab or the underlined letters as shortcuts!

Ctrl + Shift + &

Adds an outer border to the selected cell/region

Ctrl + Shift + _

Removes all borders in the selected region

Alt, E, S or Ctrl + Alt +V

Activates the Paste Special Box. The box has 3 categories of functions, unless there is a logical breach the three CAN be used in combination! For e.g. you may use v (Values), m (multiply) & e (transpose) together! Did you know that the Link option within the box does not require an Enter?

Ctrl + R/D

Ctrl + R Copies everything (formats & formulas) to the right side while Ctrl + D copies the same down. It is best used when the range is first selected. In case you do not want the formats you may use Ctrl + Enter, after selecting the range (you may have to press F2 to activate the cell which you want copied). Ctrl + Enter works in all directions! Ctrl + L/U do not do what they should!

Alt, E, I, U/L

Where U copies data upwards while L does the same downwards.

Alt, E, I, S

Activates the Series box. It can be used to create a running series of numbers E.g. 1,2,3.. or 1,3,5 It may also be used to do a quick trend forecast (regression) or to create a series of dates with specific intervals. If you have created a custom list you may use the series feature to complete it. For e.g. Instead of typing out the format of the Income Statement you could simply do it once and store it in custom list (Alt, F, I followed by Alt, O now you may add or import a list). Now simply type Income Statement, select it along with an approximate range of cells to fill up the line items and hit Alt, E, I, S followed by Alt, F (for Autofill) and you have the format ready!

Ctrl + G followed by Alt + S

Activates the Go to Special box. Takes you to all/specific formulas (variables), hard coded values (constants), comments, visible cells (used to format filters), conditional formats, validations & more!

Ctrl + Shift + ~6

Ctrl + Shift + ~ (~ is called tilde) applies general format, 1 = number with two decimals, 2 = Time, 3 = Date, 4 = Currency, 5 = Percentage with no decimals, 6 = displays

the number in millions

'A' Deletes everything, while 'F' deletes formats Alt, E, A, A/F (number formats, colors, borders etc.)

Alt, I, P, C

Toggles between displaying and hiding the Clip art box

Alt, E, B

Activates the office clipboard. Who cares! But now you wont have to reach for the mouse to close the clipboard! Keyboard Fanatics are you listening?

Alt, O, D

Activates the Conditional formatting Rules Manager

Alt, O, S

Activates the Style box. Displays the style applied to a cell segregated into Number, alignment, font, border, fill & protection.

Filtering, Sorting, Lists, Tables & Pivot table related

Alt, D, F, F or Ctrl + Shift + L Creates Filters when used anywhere within a cohesive range of cells. Alt + Down/up arrow can be used to activate drop downs.

Ctrl + L or Ctrl + T or Alt, D, I, C

Creates a Table. Tables are used to make quick calculations (Total, Average, Count etc.) When adding rows/columns within a table, formatting is automated and so is filling down of formulas. Did you know that when in an active table, scrolling down (beyond one screen size), automatically applies a freeze pane at the Column itself? I.e. Column A, B, C will be replaced by the table headers!

Alt, D, I, T

Adds a Total row to a Table(List). Customizable to select Sum, Average, count etc.

Alt, A, A

Sorts A to Z when applied to text and low to high for numbers

Alt, A, D

Sorts Z to A when applied to text and high to low for numbers

Alt, D, S

Activates the Sort box. Did you know one could sort horizontally as well? It is especially useful when you want to reverse the sequence of columns within a table!

Alt, D, B

Activates the Subtotal box. Combined with the above accelerator you can create subtotals in under 10secs!

Alt, D, E

Activates the Text to Column Wizard. Makes copying numbers from PDFs a far more pleasant task!

Alt, D, O

Activates data form. Makes data entry more organized and can also be used to perform an unbelievable feat!

Alt, D, F, A

Activates the Advanced Filter box. Use this to filter out unique values or apply multiple filters per criteria simultaneously!

Alt, D, G, A or Ctrl + 8

Creates automatic outlines (that is, groups data when subtotals exist!)

Shift + Alt + Right Arrow/Left Arrow

Right arrow to group, left to ungroup. Used to create manual outlines.

Alt, D, P

Activates the Pivot table box. Did you know you could enable the drag and drop interface (like in Excel 2003) by Going to Pivot Table Options >> Display >> Classic Pivot Table Layout

Alt, O, A

Activates the AutoFormat box. Provides different templatized formatting options for regular tables (17 options with an option to focus on one styling parameter) and Pivot tables (22 options). Now you can apply standard formats under 5 secs!

Manipulating Comments

Right Click + M or Shift + F2 or Alt, I, M

Inserts a comment. Right Click + M may also be used to delete a comment!

Ctrl + Shift + O

Selects all comments (you could also use the Go to Special box for this)

Alt, V, C

Toggle between hiding/showing all comments. Can be used to quickly review all comments before a presentation!

Right click, O

In edit mode, after hitting Esc once, Right click, O will enable you to format it (change colors, gradients, shapes, add pictures & more)

Naming ranges
Right Click, R or Ctrl + F3 Creates a Named reference. Use this as a more intuitive alternative to a formula or cell number

Alt, I, N, D or Ctrl + F3

Activates the Name manager. Use this to create, edit, delete & filter names

Alt, I, N, P or F3

Activates the Paste Name box. Use this to paste a list of all names as a reference (which is static!)

Alt, I, N, C or Ctrl + Shift + F3

Activates the Create Names from Selection box. Use this to simultaneously create names for rows, columns and the entire table!

Alt, I, N, A

Activates the Apply Names box

Chart Related
Alt + F1 Creates a default (as saved earlier) chart (on the same sheet in Excel 2007/10)

Alt, I, H

Activates the Insert Chart box. Enables you to choose chart type before creating one

F11

Creates a chart on a new sheet (occupying the entire sheet)

Ctrl + 6

Hide/Unhide a chart or object

Inserting Objects
Alt, I, O Insert objects like equations, PDF files, other MS Office documents etc. For those getting Nostalgic there is an option of 2003 like charts/graphs too!

Ctrl + K or Alt, I, I

Insert Hyperlink

Alt, E, H

Pastes as a hyperlink (The source needs to be copied first)

Alt, I, P, F

Insert Picture from an external source

Alt, I, S

Inset a symbol

Protecting
Alt, T, P, W Activates the Protect Structure and Windows box

Alt, T, P, P

Activates the Protect Sheet box

Alt, T, P, A

Activates the Allow users to edit ranges box

Alt, T, P, S

Activates the Protect Shared Workbook box

Error Proofing and Auditing

Alt, T, A Activates the Auto correct box. Best used for efficient use of shorthand!

Alt, T, S or F7

Used as scenarios earlier. However, in 2007/10 it performs a spell check

Alt, T, K

Activates the Error Checking box

Alt, T, U, T

Traces Precedents. Shows arrows to show direction and dots to show references

Alt, T, U, D

Traces Dependents. Best used to check whether a particular cell is used as an input elsewhere before deleting it. This will help you avoid the dreaded #Ref! error

Alt, T, U, E

Points to all errors causing cells

Alt, T, U, A

The only way of removing arrows created by the above three!

Ctrl + [ & Ctrl + ]

Traces direct precedents and dependents. Use Ctrl + G followed by Enter to return to original position

Alt, T, U, F

Activates the formula Evaluate feature. Best used to break down a complex formula into its components to make error detection easier. You may step in to get still more detail

Alt, T, U, W

Activates the Watch Window box. Add a range you want to track and it stays with you while navigating across sheets & workbooks!

Alt, T, U, M or Ctrl + `

Shows all cells in formula mode. The ` sign is called

Acute Accent!

Others
Alt, D, L Activates the Data Validation Box. Prevention is better than cure, they say!

Alt, T, G

Activates the Goal Seek box. An iterative process to problem solving

Alt, T, E

Activates the Scenario Manager. Use multiple inputs to create multiple scenarios

Alt, D, T

Activates the Data Table box. At best, can accept just two variables

Alt, D, N

Activates the Consolidate box. Use this to merge results from several worksheets/workbooks

Alt, E, I, A

Activates the Fill across worksheets box (only when multiple sheets are selected!)

Alt, D, D, W

Activates the New Web query box. Use this to download data dynamically from the internet. Of course, you will need to do some heavy post processing to make it usable!