Written by Puneet for Excel 2007, Excel 2010, Excel 2013, Excel 2016, Excel 2019
Knowing and using Keyboard Shortcuts while using Excel is one of those Basic Excel Skills that can help you save a ton of time every day. There are more than 500 keyboard shortcuts that you can use in Excel but the problem is not all of those can be helpful for you.
That’s why I have listed only the 82 most important keyboard shortcuts that you can learn and use easily. If somehow you are not able to find a keyboard shortcut for the option that you use frequently in your work, you can use the following method to find it.
Here’s the tip: When you press the ALT key Excel shows you the keys that you can use to open the tab from the ribbon.
And when you press a key for a particular tab to open it further shows you the keys to open the options that you have on that tab, so one for further drop-downs.
Tips to make best out of this shortcut cheat sheet
- Replace your 10 most used options with shortcuts.
- Make your fingers learn the shortcut keys.
Download the Cheat Sheet (PDF)
Basic Keys
| Key | Description |
|---|---|
| Control + Up Arrow | move to the top end |
| Control + Down Arrow | move to the down end |
| Control + Right Arrow | move to the right end |
| Control + Left Arrow | move to the left end |
| Control + C | copy |
| Control + V | paste |
| Control + X | cut |
| Control + S | save |
| Control + P | |
| Control + F4 | save as |
| Control + Z | undo the last action |
| Control + Y | redo the last action |
| Control + A | select all |
| Control + Spacebar | select entire column |
| Shift + Spacebar | select entire row |
| Delete | delete |
| F2 | edit cell |
| Esc | close edit mode |
| F1 | help |
| Menu Button | right-click menu |
Formatting Keys
| Keys | Description |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + B | bold |
| Ctrl + I | italic |
| Ctrl + U | underline |
| Ctrl + ! | open format menu |
| Ctrl + Shift + @ | format as time value |
| Ctrl + Shift + # | format as a date |
| Ctrl + Shift + $ | format as currency |
| Ctrl + Shift + % | format as percentage |
| Alt → H → O → I / A | adjust cell width to content |
| Alt → H → B → A | apply border |
| Alt H F C | change font color |
| Alt H H | change cell color |
| Alt H A C | align text to the center |
| Alt H M C | merge cell |
| Alt H W | wrap text |
| Alt H F F | change font style |
| Alt H F S | change font size |
| Alt H L N | add conditional formatting |
| Alt H T | format as table |
| Alt H J | style cell |
Insert & Layout Keys
| Keys | Description |
|---|---|
| Alt N V | insert pivot table |
| Alt N T | insert table |
| Alt N P | insert picture |
| Alt N S H | insert shape |
| Alt N S C | insert charts |
| Alt N I | insert hyperlink |
| Alt N X | insert text box |
| Alt N J | insert object |
| Alt N U | insert symbol |
| Alt N H | insert header & footer |
| Alt N Z K | open sparklines |
| Alt W V F | hide/unhide formula bar |
| Alt W V H | hide/unhide heading |
| Alt W V G | hide/unhide gridlines |
| Alt W Q C | change zoom |
| Alt W F F | freeze pane |
| Alt W F I | page break view |
| Alt W F C | custom view |
| Alt W F P | page layout view |
| Alt W A | arrange windows |
Functions and Data Shortcuts
| Keys | |
|---|---|
| Shift + F3 | insert function |
| Alt M R | recently used functions |
| Alt M I | financial functions |
| Alt M L | logical functions |
| Alt M T | text functions |
| Alt M E | date and time functions |
| Alt M O | lookup functions |
| Alt M G | math and trig functions |
| Alt M Q | more functions |
| Alt + = | auto sum |
| Alt M N | name manager |
| Alt D F F | add filters |
| Alt A V V | insert data validation |
| Alt A M | remove duplicates |
| Alt A R A | refresh all |
| Alt A E | open text to column |
| Alt A G | group rows and columns |
| Alt A U | ungroup rows and columns |
| Alt A B | add subtotal |
| Alt A S S | open sort |
My Favorite Keyboard Shortcuts
| Key | |
|---|---|
| Alt H O R | rename a worksheet |
| Alt + F1 | insert the default chart |
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