Microsoft excel shortcuts is a spreadsheet application that is used across the globe to manage and organize data. It was introduced by Microsoft excel in 1985 and ever since its invention, it has become a go-to handle to manage data. Companies all around the globe use it to preserve critical statistical information and more than that, the handle is good to perform basic mathematical operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and much more.
Not everyone is a prop at using excel because of some complications. Nevertheless, there are some go-to shortcuts that can make excel an absolutely easy way to arrange your data. The data is always arranged in rows and columns but the operations goes beyond the visualization of graph and mathematical operations. Let’s see how you can perform these functions easily and learn it on your finger-tips.
Advantage of Excel Shortcuts
The importance of excel shortcuts can not be ignored in daily office work. Normally, performing a task on excel requires accessing to the toolbar with your mouse and at least two key strokes. However, if we look at the shortcuts, they are easy to perform via keyboard without any hassle of using the mouse and keystrokes. Microsoft excel has more than 50 shortcuts which can make your life easy but generally, it is not possible for any person to memorize all of the short cuts. So the question is, how can one remember them? Microsoft excel shortcuts can be easily memorized by practicing on daily basis. The more you use them, the easier will it be to memorize. Let’s see how!
How to move columns in excel
The very common question that excel shortcuts users ask is how to move columns in excel. The easiest way is to hold down the OPTION and drag the rows or columns to another location. Hold down SHIFT and drag your row or column between existing rows or columns. Excel makes space for the new row or column.
Moreover, there are several row and column formatting shortcuts which help one group and ungroup rows and columns, delete rows and columns, and hide and unhide the selected rows and columns.
Select an entire row and column
Starting with the basic act of selecting, you can simply select the entire row and column by pressing Shift + Space and Ctrl + Space, respectively.
Grouping and ungrouping rows and columns
Moving down to grouping and ungrouping, you can simply press Alt + Shift + Right arrow to group rows or columns. Similarly, ungrouping of rows and columns can be done by pressing Alt + Shift + Left arrow.
Delete a row or a column
Next we have is how to delete a column or a row. A row and a column can be easily deleted pressing Shift + Space, Ctrl + – and Alt+H+D+C, respectively.
Hide or Unhide a Row or a Column
Lastly we have the hide and unhide command for rows and columns. A row and column can be easily hidden by pressing Ctrl + 9 and Ctrl + 0, respectively. Similar to that, a row and a column can be unhidden by pressing Ctrl + Shift + 9 and Ctrl + Shift + 0, respectively.
Keyboard shortcuts to cut a cell value
A cell is a most critical part of any excel sheet as it contains all the data. One wrong click and you can loose important information within a glimpse of an eye. Hence, it is important to have sufficient knowledge about all the cell formatting shortcuts to make your work easy and quick. Starting by cutting a cell value, people often find it irritating to click on the cell two times to have the cursor in place before they cut the value and sometimes, they even erase the wrong information accidently. To get rid of this hassle, you can simple cut the cell value by pressing Ctrl+X (hold down the “Ctrl” key and the “X” key at the same time). It is same as you cut any data from a word document. The shortcut for copying and pasting is also same. Ctrl + C for copying and Ctrl + V for pasting.
As far as other formatting operations are concerned, they are as follows;
Edit a Cell
If you merely want to edit a cell, you can simply press F2 and get the job done.
Alignment of Cells
Coming down to the alignment, it is quite frustrating to select a cell at a time and fix the alignment. You can simply do it by pressing Alt + H + A + C.
Font
After alignment, there comes the font. Incase if you wish to bold or italicize the letters, you can simply do it by Ctrl + B and Ctrl + I, respectively.
Moving from Cell to Cell
Next, we have is how can we move cells via shortcut. Moving to the next cell is as easy as pressing the Tab and to move back to the previous cell, you can press Shift + Tab
Moreover, you can also select number of cells in one go by simply pressing Ctrl + Shift + Right arrow to select all the cells on the right and Ctrl + Shift + Left Arrow to select all the cells on the left.
How to add a row in excel?
After cell formatting, we have rows addition. If you want to add a single row, you can simply Right-click the whole row above which you want to insert the new row, and then select Insert Rows. However, if you wish to insert multiple rows: Select the same number of rows above which you want to add new ones. Right-click the selection, and then select Insert Rows.
Add a Row in Excel
Coming down to the shortcut, it is as simple as pressing Shift+Spacebar to select the row and then Alt+I+R to add a new row above.
Conclusion
Using excel shortcuts has always been quite complicated for many users. The shortcuts help us make reports easily and quickly which can make work way less exhausting.
