How to Look Like an Excel Pro – Keyboard Shortcuts

There will be lots of occasions in which you will be sharing your screen while doing Excel work or have somebody watching over your shoulder as you show them some data, a report, etc.

Whether it’s your team lead, your manager, a team member, or a client, using these shortcuts in Excel will make you look like a pro – regardless of your actual skill level. 

First, let’s establish something. Being able to use keyboard shortcuts to shave off the 3 extra seconds it would have taken you if you had used your mouse does NOT make one an expert. However, it does have 2 significant advantages:

1. The ability to process large datasets faster

If your data has thousands of rows, selecting the column header and snapping your selection all the way down to the bottom of the column is going to be quicker than dragging your selection down with your mouse

2. It gives you credibility

When somebody who does not know of these shortcuts sees you using them, they will probably want you to tell them how you did that. They see immediately that you are someone they can learn from.

Now that we’ve talked about why we use these shortcuts, let’s take a look at some.

Shortcuts for moving around:

CTRL + Arrow

Snap to the end of your data

You can use the arrow keys to move around one cell at a time. By using ctrl + arrow, you can easily snap to the end of your data. If you’re on a cell in the middle of your dataset, ctrl + right arrow will snap you all the way over to that same row but the rightmost column.

Similarly, if you use ctrl + down arrow, your cursor will snap to the same column but the last row of your dataset.

Shift + Arrow

Select your data… one cell at a time

Users can use the mouse and cursor to carefully click and drag a section of data to select it. This can be done via the keyboard as well! Using Shift + Arrow keys allows you to select the cells around where your cursor already is. Take a look and try it out!

CTRL + Shift + Arrow

Select your data… rows or columns at a time

Let’s combine our last two concepts. Using CTRL + Shift + Arrow keys allows a user to ‘snap and select’ as I like to describe it. You can instantly select a large portion of your data – something a user CANNOT do with just a mouse. Use this shortcut to select whole rows and/or columns at a time. Take a look!

Go ahead and try to use these three shortcuts next time you’re using Excel!