Are you spending 8hours in creating a Microsoft Excel document that shouldn't take more than 10mins?

Regardless of your experience with Microsoft Excel, here is comprehensive guide on 7 of the hundreds keyboard shortcuts of this powerful spreadsheet.

In this write up, general keyboard shortcuts that work in lots of other programs are not mentioned here e.g CTRL-C, CTRL-V et.c not because they aren't useful but in-order to focus on shortcuts exclusive to Microsoft Excel guaranteed to help you work faster and do more within limited time. Read full article here: http:///1PuBYYh.

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There is no doubt about how powerful Microsoft Excel spreadsheet has proven to be. Currently over more than 90% of companies and individuals have used the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet at least once in their personal & professional existence. Microsoft Excel has lots of functionalities, some of which only advanced users are able to understand. However, regardless of your experience with this powerful spreadsheet, here is comprehensive guide on 7 of the hundreds keyboard shortcuts of Microsoft Excel.

In this write up, general keyboard shortcuts that work in lots of other programs are not mentioned here e.g CTRL-C, CTRL-V et.c not because they aren't useful but in-order to focus on shortcuts exclusive to Microsoft Excel guaranteed to help you work faster and do more within limited time.

Yes! you can look up "Keyboard Shortcuts" in Excel's help for a complete list of options but that can be overwhelming. These are 7 of the shortcuts you might use more often:

The F2 key for editing: This shortcut is quite simple but essential. The F2 key lets you edit the content of a cell. Sure, you can also double-click on it, but navigating there with the keyboard and using F2 is much faster.

Shift+the arrow keys for selection: To select multiple cells, just hold down shift and move the arrow keys in the direction you want. You can also do the same with the PgUp, PgDn, Home and End keys. Much easier and more accurate than the mouse.

Add or delete columns: Managing columns and rows in your spreadsheet is an all-day task. Whether adding or deleting, you can save a little time when you use this keyboard shortcut. CTRL + ‘-‘ (minus key) will delete the column your cursor is in and CTRL + SHIFT + ‘=' (equal key) will add a new column. From an earlier tip, think about CTRL + ‘+' (plus sign).

Set & Clear Borders: “CTRL+SHIFT+&” will add a complete (thin) border around your selected cells while “CTRL+SHIFT+_ (underscore)” will remove all the border formatting from your selected cells.

Quick Format Cells: To save all the time of going through the master list of number formats, use these keys to activate the most popular ones:

CTRL+SHIFT+$ will set the Currency format. Example: $1,234.56 / ($1,234.56)
CTRL+SHIFT+! will set the Number format. Example: 1,234.56 / -1,234.56
CTRL+SHIFT+% will set the Percentage format. Example: 123456% / -123456%
CTRL+SHIFT+~ will clear the format, giving you a clean, un-formatted cell. Example: 1234.56 / -1234.56

Date-stamp or time-stamp using Ctrl+; or Ctrl+: Here is an easy way to remember this shortcut. What time is it right now? It is 11:21 here. There is a colon in the time. Press Ctrl+Colon to enter the current time in the active cell. Need the current date? Same keystroke, minus the Shift key. Pressing Ctrl+Semicolon enters the current time.

Note that this is not the same as using =NOW() or =TODAY(). Those functions change over time. These shortcuts mark the time or date that you pressed the key and the value does not change.

Lock and Unlock Cell References: You probably know that putting $ signs before your Column letter and Row number will lock the cell reference in a formula, but a pain to go in and manually set absolute (locked) references. F4 will cycle through all the combinations of locked and unlocked references when you are editing a formula in a cell.

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For any questions/clarifications as regards the contents of this post, please feel free to ask in the comment section below. I sincerely hope you find this write up useful and will consider using some of this shortcuts next time you work with Microsoft Excel.