Everyone knows Ctrl + C. These are the shortcuts even regular Excel users often miss, from opening a function's help dialog to jumping back to the active cell after a long selection.
Table of Contents
Video
Quick list
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + L | Create a table (same as Ctrl + T; tables were once called lists) |
| Ctrl + A after a function name | Open the Function Arguments dialog |
| Ctrl + Shift + A after a function name | Type all the argument names into the formula |
| Ctrl + Page Down / Page Up | Next / previous sheet |
| Ctrl + G, or Alt + F3 | Go to a cell or range by typing its address |
| Shift + F11 with several sheets selected | Insert that many new sheets |
| Shift + F4 | Find the next match of your last search, without the Find box |
| F9 on part of a formula | Show what that part calculates to |
| Ctrl + Backspace | Scroll back to the active cell |
| Alt + ↓ | Open a drop-down list, filter menu, or a pick-list of the column's entries |
| Alt, D, O | Open the built-in data entry form |
| Ctrl + ' | Copy the formula from the cell above, exactly |
Function Arguments: Ctrl + A and Ctrl + Shift + A
Type =XLOOKUP( or just =XLOOKUP, then press Ctrl + A to open a dialog explaining each argument. Ctrl + Shift + A instead types the argument names into the cell as placeholders.
Insert several sheets at once
Select four sheet tabs (hold Shift and click) and press Shift + F11: four new sheets are added.
Find next without the dialog
After one search with Ctrl + F, close the box and press Shift + F4 to jump to the next match. Ctrl + Shift + F4 goes back.
Check part of a formula with F9
In the formula bar, select part of a formula, such as B2:B10>50, and press F9 to see its result. Press Esc afterwards, or the result replaces that part permanently.
Back to the active cell
After selecting a long range for a formula, the screen ends up far from where you started. Ctrl + Backspace scrolls straight back to the active cell.
Alt + Down arrow
On a drop-down cell it opens the list; on a filter header it opens the filter menu; in an ordinary column it shows a list of entries already typed above, to pick from.
The data entry form
Click in a table and press Alt, D, O (one after another) for a simple form to add, find and edit records one at a time. It's not on the ribbon; see the data form macro for a button.
