Excel Tips Keyboard Shortcut

Quick access to Excel formula bar via keyboard

A quick keyboard shortcut puts you right into the Formula bar. You don't need the mouse at all!

When entering formulas, you select a cell and start typing. To edit an existing formula, you probably make changes in the Formula bar. Recently, I noticed several Excel students reaching for the mouse and clicking the Formula bar to edit formulas. That method’s Okay, but some people find it easier to work from the keyboard as much as possible. If that describes you, press [F2] instead of reaching for the mouse the next time you want to edit an existing formula.To me, it hardly seemed worth mentioning. Admittedly, substituting a single keystroke for a mouse click doesn’t seem like a big deal, unless you prefer the keyboard (at least most of the time). The keyboard approach isn’t more efficient, it’s just different.

If pressing [F2] positions the cursor in the cell instead of the Formula bar, do the following:

1-From the Tools menu, choose Options.
2-Click the Edit tab.
3-Uncheck the Edit Directly In Cell option in the Settings area.
4-Click OK.

If you’re using Excel 2007, do the following:

1-Click the Office button and then click Excel Options (at the bottom right).
2-Select Advanced in the left pane.
3-Uncheck the Allow Editing Directly In Cell option.
4-Click OK.

Keyboard shortcuts to speed formatting in Excel worksheets

By now, most Office users probably know the Bold, Italic, and Underline shortcuts as well as they know their own names. (I’ve included them here because someone will surely take me to task if I leave them out.) But the rest of these shortcuts are less well known, even though you might actually need to apply, say, the Currency format to data more often than Underline or Italic.

These are standard, practical shortcuts that can save you time in earlier versions of Excel — but they’re especially useful in Excel 2007. Although the formats are accessible from the Home tab in that version, it could be years, possibly decades, before you develop the habit of locating them quickly. And if you’re working in a different tab, you don’t want to have to keep switching back to the Home tab just to format the data you’re working on.

Action | Shortcut
Bold the selection ( Ctrl+B )

Italicize the selection ( Ctrl+I )

Underline the selection ( Ctrl+U )

Strike through the selection ( Ctrl+5 )

Open the Style dialog box ( Alt+’ )

Open the Format Cells dialog box ( Ctrl+1 )

Apply the General format ( Ctrl+Shift+~ )

Apply the Currency format ( Ctrl+Shift+$ )

Apply the Percentage format ( Ctrl+Shift+% )

Apply the Date format ( Ctrl+Shift+# )

Apply the Time format ( Ctrl+Shift+@ )

Apply the Number format ( Ctrl+Shift+! )

Apply the Exponential number format ( Ctrl+Shift+^ )

Apply an outline border to the selection ( Ctrl+Shift+& )

Remove an outline border from the selection ( Ctrl+Shift +_ )

Shortcuts can save you a considerable amount of time when you’re entering or modifying data in a worksheet — but only if you can remember them. This list offers a quick reminder of some old standbys, along with a few shortcuts that are less well known but equally useful.

Action | Shortcut
Complete an entry and move to the next cell ( Enter )

Insert a new line within a cell ( Alt+Enter )

Enable editing within a cell ( F2 )

Fill selected cells with an entry you typed in one cell ( Ctrl+Enter )

Cancel an entry ( Esc )

Fill data down through selected cells ( Ctrl+D )

Fill data through selected cells to the right ( Ctrl+R )

Create a name ( Ctrl+F3 )

Insert a hyperlink ( Ctrl+K )

Insert the current date ( Ctrl and ; (semicolon) )

Insert the current time ( Ctrl and : (colon) )

Delete from the insertion point to the end of the line ( Ctrl+Delete )

Add blank cells ( Ctrl and Shift+ (plus) )

Delete selected cells ( Ctrl and - (hyphen) )

Create a chart from a range of data ( F11 )