Excel Shortcuts Cheat Sheet

Selects the whole row of the active cell. Do this first, then insert or delete.

Selects the whole column of the active cell.

Inserts a row above (or a column to the left of) the selection. With a single cell selected, Excel asks what to insert.

Deletes the selected rows or columns. With a single cell selected, Excel asks what to delete.

Hides the selected rows.

Unhides hidden rows inside the selection.

Hides the selected columns.

Unhides hidden columns inside the selection. Windows sometimes blocks this one; see the fixes below.

Resizes the selected columns to fit their contents.

Reverses the last change.

Redoes an undone change, or repeats the last action on the new selection.

Opens the cell for editing with the cursor at the end.

Clears the values in the selection but keeps formatting.

Copies the cell above (or the top of the selection) down.

Copies the cell to the left (or the left of the selection) to the right.

Types today's date as a fixed value.

Types the current time as a fixed value.

Copies the selection.

Cuts the selection, ready to paste elsewhere.

Pastes everything: values, formulas and formatting.

Pastes results only, dropping formulas and formatting. Ctrl+Shift+V needs Microsoft 365; the Paste Special route works everywhere.

Opens Paste Special to choose values, formats, transpose and more.

Toggles bold.

Toggles italic.

Toggles underline.

Toggles strikethrough.

Merges the selected cells and centres the text. Excel for Mac has no default key; add it to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Wraps long text onto several lines inside the cell.

Opens the fill colour palette (the simulator applies yellow).

Opens every number, alignment and border option.

Applies currency format with two decimals.

Applies percent format with no decimals.

Applies number format with thousands separators and two decimals.

Moves to the last filled cell in that direction, the fastest way to the bottom of a column.

Extends the selection to the last filled cell in that direction.

Jumps to the top-left cell.

Jumps to the bottom-right cell that has data.

Selects the whole data region.

Adds a SUM of the numbers above the active cell.

While editing a formula, cycles A1 → $A$1 → A$1 → $A1.

Switches between showing results and formulas.

Adds or removes filter arrows on the header row.

Adds a new worksheet and switches to it.

Moves to the next worksheet tab.

Moves to the previous worksheet tab.

Puts the sheet tab name into edit mode.

Saves the workbook.

Opens Save As to save a copy or change the format.