Excel Shortcut: 50 Must-Know Keyboard Shortcuts

Introduction

Microsoft Excel is one of the most-used tools for working with data, whether you are cleaning a spreadsheet, building a quick report, or tracking day-to-day work. But a lot of time is wasted on small actions or on repeating the same steps. That is exactly where Excel shortcut keys help. They let you move faster, make edits in seconds, and stay focused on the work instead of the ribbon.

In this article, we’ve compiled the top 50 Microsoft Excel shortcut keys, so you can handle the common stuff fast, like copy and paste (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V / Cmd+C, Cmd+V), undo (Ctrl+Z / Cmd+Z), format cells (Ctrl+1 / Cmd+1), edit a cell (F2 / Ctrl+U), and move across data (Ctrl+Arrow / Cmd+Arrow), that everyone should know.

What Are Excel Shortcuts?

Excel supports plenty of keyboard shortcuts that help you work efficiently and increase productivity. Instead of accessing the toolbar with a mouse, two or three keystrokes are used to perform significant functions. Isn’t that easier and time-saving? Using Excel shortcuts drastically increases the speed and thus reduces work time. 

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How to Use Keyboard Shortcuts in Excel

Excel shortcuts work when you press and hold a modifier key, then tap the second key. On Windows, that is usually Ctrl (or Alt for Ribbon shortcuts). On Mac, it is usually Cmd (sometimes Option). Once you get the pattern, you can move, format, and clean data without jumping back to the ribbon.

• Most shortcuts: hold Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (Mac), then press the second key (example: copy and paste)
• Ribbon shortcuts (Windows): tap Alt to show KeyTips, then press the letters you see on screen
• If a shortcut doesn’t work: exit cell edit mode (Esc), check if function keys need Fn, and confirm the sheet isn’t protected
• How to learn fast: start with the workbook and formatting shortcuts below, then use the full 50-key list as a quick reference when you forget

In this article, we have categorized 50 Excel shortcut keys based on their operations. First, we will look at the workbook shortcut keys.

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Workbook Shortcut Keys

In this section, we will learn the basics of operating a workbook. We will learn how to create a new workbook, open an existing workbook, and save a spreadsheet so that you don’t lose any data or calculations that you have done. We will then show you how to toggle between multiple sheets in a workbook. 

Those were the Excel shortcut keys that can help you navigate through your spreadsheet. Once the workbook creation is done, the next key step is cell formatting.

Cell Formatting Shortcut Keys

A cell in Excel holds all the data that you are working on. Several different shortcuts can be applied to a cell, such as editing a cell, aligning cell contents, adding a border to a cell, adding an outline to all the selected cells, and many more. Here are the Excel shortcut keys for cell formatting:

After working with cell formatting Excel shortcut keys, the next step is to understand how to work with an entire row/column in Excel. 

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Row and Column Formatting Shortcut Keys

In this section, we’ll look at some critical row and column formatting shortcuts.

We will understand how to delete rows and columns, hide and unhide the selected rows and columns, and group and ungroup rows and columns.

Now that we have looked at the different shortcut keys for formatting cells, rows, and columns, it is time to jump into understanding an advanced topic in Excel, i.e., dealing with pivot tables. Let’s look at the different shortcuts to summarize your data using a pivot table.

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Pivot Table Shortcut Keys

In addition to the above-mentioned pivot table shortcuts, let’s look at a few additional and advanced cell formatting Excel shortcut keys that might come in handy. 

Other Excel Formulas: Comment, Insert, Time, Date, and More

We will learn how to add a comment to a cell. Comments are helpful when giving extra information about cell content. We will also learn how to find a value and replace it with another value in the spreadsheet. After this, we will look into how to insert the current time, current date, activate a filter, and add a hyperlink to a cell. Finally, we will see how to apply a format to the data in a cell.

Conclusion

Excel shortcut keys will indeed help you build your reports and analysis faster and better. After reading this article, you would have understood the different types of Excel shortcuts related to the workbook, cell formatting, row and column formatting, and pivot tables. To kick-start your career in the data analysis field, enroll in Data Analyst Course today.

Have a look at the video below that explains worksheet-related shortcuts, row and column shortcuts, and pivot table shortcut keys.

Additional Resources

• MS Excel Interview Questions
• Excel Tutorial for Beginners
• How to Calculate Percentage in Excel
• How to Compare Two Columns in Excel?

FAQs

1. What are the best Excel shortcuts for faster data analysis?

Start with the shortcuts that speed up cleaning and summarizing. The most useful ones are:

• Ctrl + T: Create a table
• Ctrl + Shift + L: Turn filters on or off
• Ctrl + H: Find and Replace
• Ctrl + Alt + V: Paste Special
• Ctrl + E: Flash Fill
• Alt + =: AutoSum

2. What are the best shortcuts for copying, filling, and pasting?

These Excel shortcut keys cover most day-to-day spreadsheet work. Use Ctrl + C to copy, Ctrl + V to paste, and Ctrl + X to cut. For repeating patterns and formulas:

• Ctrl + D: Fill down
• Ctrl + R: Fill right
• Ctrl + Alt + V: Paste Special (values, formats, etc.)

3. What are shortcuts for filters and sorting in Excel?

Use Ctrl + Shift + L to toggle filters. On Windows, these make filtering and sorting faster:

• Alt + Down Arrow: Open the filter dropdown
• Alt + A, S, S: Open the Sort dialog

On Mac, sorting shortcuts vary by setup, so the reliable path is Data menu > Sort.

4. What are shortcuts for working with formulas efficiently?

If you write formulas often, these help the most:

• F2: Edit the cell formula
• Shift + F3: Insert Function
• Ctrl + `: Show formulas in the sheet
• F9: Recalculate

On Windows, F4 is also a must for toggling $ references in a formula.

5. What are the advanced Excel shortcuts power users rely on?

Power users move fast by jumping and selecting without scrolling. Keep these handy:

• Ctrl + Arrow: Jump to the edge of data
• Ctrl + Shift + Arrow: Select to the edge of data
• Ctrl + 1: Open Format Cells
• F5 or Ctrl + G: Go To
• Alt + ; (Windows): Select visible cells only

6. How do I create my own Excel shortcuts or macros?

Excel does not let you assign custom shortcuts to everything, but you can still automate repetitive work. Record a macro, then run it from the Macros list. On Windows, you can also assign a shortcut key to a macro using Macro Options.

7. Where can I get an Excel shortcuts cheat sheet?

You can grab Microsoft’s Excel shortcuts cheat sheet from the official Microsoft Support page for Excel keyboard shortcuts. Just open that help page and look for the printable cheat sheet or download option. Make sure you pick the right list for your device (Windows or Mac), since a few keys are different.