Favorite Excel Shortcuts

Hi everyone,

I just started my internship and am using a lot of excel. What are your favorite shortcuts and/or functions to use?

Thanks

47 Comments
 

Associate explained this trick over the phone as “Alternate wide v****a go”

 

These are my most used ones:

Shift + F2 - add a note to FN assumptions

Alt + S + R + T - FactSet refresh sheet

Alt + 9 - my paste special shortcut, use this all the time to paste values/formatting/comments/etc.

CTRL + Shift + :/“ - FactSet shortcut for changing cell colors

CTRL + Shift + 3/4/5/8/y - FactSet shortcut for number formatting

CTRL + Shift + [ - FactSet cell reference tracing

 

The alt button is your friend: when you need something on the ribbon, make it a habit to go there using alt - h/n/p/… and so on. Also in practically every dialog box, you can use the alt in combination with a letter (usually underlined) instead of having to use your mouse

alt w f f so that your dates row and category column remain visible

Someone else mentioned alt w v g to show and hide gridlines

Alt w n to open a new window of the same document which you can put on a different screen, really helps to navigate and play around with a model

Ctrl+alt+v x Enter, good for pasting a cell format without the borders

Ctrl+0/Ctrl+9/Ctrl+shift+0/Ctrl+shift+9: hide or show rows and columns

Shift/Ctrl+Space: select row/column

Ctrl+shift+’+’: insert before or above

Ctrl+’-‘: delete

Alt a g g/alt a u u: group and ungroup rows or columns

Alt a h/Alt a j: hide/show grouped cells

Ctrl+%: percentage number format

 

A couple that come to mind (some of these are FactSet shortcuts that I created):

- CTRL + 1: format cells 

- CTRL + 2: trace precedents in a formula

- CTRL + 3: trace dependents in a formula

- CTRL + 4: change cell color (choose between e.g. black, blue, green, purple, red)

- CTRL + ALT + E: automatically change cell color based on the contents of the cell (blue for hard inputs, purple for FactSet data, green for links to other sheets, red for formula in same sheet, etc.)

- ALT + WVG: remove gridlines

- ALT + HOI: change column width 

- ALT + FT: Excel options

- ALT + HP / ALT + H0 / ALT + H9 / ALT + HAL / ALT + HAR / ALT + HAC / ALT + HMC (self-explanatory)

- ALT + SRS (FactSet refresh selection)

- ALT + SRT (FactSet refresh worksheet) 

- ALT + SRW (FactSet refresh workbook)

- Shift + F2: insert comment

- ALT + RD: remove comment

- ALT + HEA: clear all cell contents

- CTRL + Space: select column (subsequently CTRL + - to delete column or CTRL + Shift + + to add)

- Shift + Space: select row (subsequently CTRL + - to delete row or CTRL + Shift + + to add)

- CTRL + Page up / Page down (navigate worksheets)

Can go on and on but these are a few of the ones I use the most

 

My best tip would be to learn how to use the shortcut system. That way, you can learn the shortcuts for the specific functions you're using. Always start with pressing ALT and then just follow the guidelines to get to the function you want to use. With time, you will learn the shortcuts you use often by heart. The ones I use most often are various formatting functions. 

 

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