Excel Keyboard Shortcuts Really That Necessary?

I'm doing training for deal advisory internship rn, doing ib internship this next winter also. We're watching an Excel tutorial and the guy is only using keyboard shortcuts to do everything.

Is it really that necessary to use the shortcuts? Does it save you that much time in IB grinding endless Excel models? I'm so much faster and more comfortable with mouse right now but I can learn it if its a big time saver.

18 Comments
 
Most Helpful

I find it very hard to believe that, please don’t listen to this guy. Are there things that are faster to do with the mouse? Of course there are!

You don’t have to never touch your mouse while using excel. Don’t listen to stupid hardos who said that because they think it makes them look cool lol

However, there are so many shortcuts that save you 2-3 seconds here and there, which you might thing it’s nothing, but it adds up to a lot of time saved.

One of the biggest time saves you can have is having some shortcuts in your quick ribbon (alt + 1, alt + 2, etc). It all comes down to preference what you want to put there but it can help a lot since it’s an easy shortcut to remember.

 

+1 SB. It's all about finding your personal balance. Push yourself to learn as many shortcuts as possible and then move back to what works best and then occasionally try to learn new ones that could save you time.

I've literally sat behind a hardo tripping up on his shortcut three times in a row as he is working through a model. At that point, PICK UP YOUR FUCKING MOUSE!

 

Yes - it saves you a lot of time.  You'll be working in Excel at least several hours per day every day, so shaving off a couple of seconds every time you insert a sheet, re-name a sheet, re-color a sheet, change font color, row height, column width, sort something fuck w/ number formatting, etc. adds up. 

The first-year who is a self-proclaimed virtuoso w/ the mouse is slow af and doesn't realize it.      

I come from down in the valley, where mister when you're young, they bring you up to do like your daddy done
 

Here are shortcuts I often use-

  1. Ctrl + pgUp/pgDn: move tabs
  1. Alt + (letter/number key): you can press the alt key and access the ribbon for a variety of stuff
  1. F2: Enter and exit the formula bar
  1. F4: lock a cell so that reference is constant when you drag to copy a formula
  1. Shift + arrow: to select multiple cells
  1. Ctrl + arrow: quickly navigate cells.

(Ctrl + shift + arrow to select multiple cells quickly)

  1. Ctrl + R: if you have highlighted cells to the right of a formula this will copy the formula to the highlighted cells (autofill)
  1. Ctrl + D: same are above but copies the formula to the cells below
  1. Alt + =: sum the cells above the highlighted cell

Ctrl + space (select column) and shift + space (select row) are two shortcuts I people use often but I personally don't.

I have been using these shortcuts a lot for my college assignments and my current internship and I generally don't use the mouse at all.

Hope this helps!

 

Keyboard shortcuts are helpful in that you're not moving your hand back and forth from your keyboard and your mouse. Also, the time it takes to move your cursor to the ribbon vs. a 3-letter Alt code adds up over time. There are certainly things that are easier with a mouse, and whatever firm you end up working for will have its own color scheme and number formats and some keyboard shortcuts that allow you to quickly cycle between those colors/formats. 

You are very likely faster on a mouse currently than you are with only keyboard shortcuts, but as you get more comfortable using the keyboard for the most part, you will quickly catch up (think of it like learning to touch type; you won't be faster initially but you will definitely be faster once you're good at it). It's certainly something worth investing time into getting good at and it will get you ahead of your peers who didn't spend time getting accustomed to it. 

 

Thanks for your input everyone. I will definitely try to do as much as I can by hand, especially during training. Ive already seen the benefits of just using ALT to get to the right tab and button/function.

 

Perferendis nisi voluptatem corrupti ullam eaque facere nobis similique. Accusantium hic repudiandae nam. Et sapiente quis assumenda laborum et. Hic natus ut quia et eos itaque et architecto.

Quis ea commodi quaerat et cupiditate veniam est. Ut ut dolor quaerat reiciendis veritatis. Ea odit molestiae et facilis. Quibusdam eligendi aliquam quisquam. Pariatur non totam rerum ipsa. Rerum esse mollitia et repudiandae nobis ex.

Officia explicabo minima veritatis quia dolorum praesentium qui. Dolore eos sint modi. Quia explicabo eos ex et et. Minima dolore quis ipsa ut et sit. Sequi repellendus ab ea sunt. Excepturi reprehenderit aliquid tenetur ducimus quibusdam.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (50) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”