Useful shortcuts:

 
Everyone knows the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V for copying and pasting respectively, Ctrl + X for cutting and Ctrl + Z to undo something but, there are a few more that can save you a lot of work.
I’ll mention a few of them.

The first is the keyboard shortcut Ctrl +F2. This gives you a preview.

Another one is, to navigate in and out of your worksheet. Keep the Ctrl key on your keyboard pressed while scrolling the mouse up or down.

A third is the Ctrl+ (down arrow on your keyboard). This brings you to the last cell of the data that is listed.
Ctrl + (up arrow on your keyboard). This brings you to the topmost cell that contains data.
The same thing goes for the left-and right arrows on your keyboard.

Ctrl +Shift + down arrow, will select all cells containing data.
If you only have a few rows where data is present, it is of little use, but, when you have dozens of cells, it is a very useful shortcut.
The same thing applies for the up, left or right arrows on your keyboard.

Another shortcut is the SUM function.
We all know the “Sum” button on the “Ribbon”.
When we click it, Excel gives a proposal of the cells on which a sum can be calculated.
This proposal is, more or less, the sum of the cells lying horizontally or vertically.

However, when we click the “Sum” button or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+ Shift+ ?, Excel will propose the sum of the adjacent column:

To quickly add a column, press the Alt key on your keyboard. Then press the letter I, on your keyboard, and then press K. This will insert a column to the left of the selected cell.
To quickly add a row, press the Alt key on your keyboard, press I, and then press R on your keyboard. This will insert a row above the selected cell.

To select an entire row, use the Shift + Spacebar shortcut.
To select an entire column, use the Ctrl + Spacebar shortcut.

To select the data from non-adjacent columns, click to select the topmost cell in the first column, and then use the Ctrl + Shift + down arrow shortcut. This will select all cells with data in this column. We had seen this in a previous section.
Then, you only have the Ctrl key on your keyboard pressed, and you can click the topmost cell of the next column to select it.
Then use the Ctrl + Shift + down arrow shortcut to also select the filled cells in this column.
You can repeat this for each column for which you want to select the filled cells.
This is very handy when need to format your cells which are only the cells with content.

Featured Courses

• Downloading iPad Apps
• Lesson 1: Introduction to Publisher
• Lesson 65: File Formats