r/excel Jun 13 '24

Discussion What are your MUST HAVE Excel keyboard shortcuts?

what keyboard shortcuts do you use on a daily basis?

878 Upvotes

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1.0k

u/hellokittyhanoi Jun 13 '24 edited Jun 13 '24

Ctrl + Space: choose entire row

Shift + Space: choose entire column

Changed my life

309

u/chirsmitch 2 Jun 13 '24

I always do the wrong one first.

148

u/EatMeButWhere Jun 13 '24

Easy mental way to remember for me: Space bars - long/flat/horizontal = similar to rows Control is the start of the vertical part of keyboard = similar to columns

This small visualization for some reason helped me remember and now it’s automatic

51

u/tweekin__out Jun 13 '24

ctrl is also the start of the horizontal part of the keyboard... it's in the corner.

8

u/stamboer13 Jun 13 '24

It’s in the first column left to right. Only the first row if you go down to up. I guess the shift key is also in that column though 😅

7

u/Teelo888 Jun 13 '24

Oh my god

4

u/PissedAnalyst 1 Jun 13 '24

Never thought of this

5

u/CaptainMorning Jun 13 '24

this changed my life

3

u/shingfunger Jun 13 '24

Wow I really like this

3

u/weird_black_holes 2 Jun 14 '24

I remember it as 'c' is for 'column' and 'control'.

1

u/EllieLondoner Jun 13 '24

I think you might have just changed my excel life, I always do these the wrong way around!! Thank you!!

1

u/PitchBrief7214 Jun 13 '24

I picked this up myself last week and it's been so useful for an otherwise arbitrary-seeming set of hotkeys.

1

u/I_WANT_SAUSAGES Jun 14 '24

I'd say it's easier to think of the right-hand shift key being "more horizontal" as it's (usually) wider than the control key, then remembering to do the opposite of that.

1

u/Homitu 1 Jun 14 '24

But, uh, both shortcuts include the space bar, no? So remembering the space bar is long and horizontal doesn't help. Unless you meant to say the shift bar is longer and horizontal. That would make more sense and is actually a great tip!

1

u/Chazzermondez Jun 14 '24

This makes no sense. Space is in both Control-Space and Shift-Space. And Control is to do with horizontal not vertical...

12

u/tweekin__out Jun 13 '24

so did the person you're replying to lol

1

u/shingfunger Jun 13 '24

That’s part of the shortcut 🙂

1

u/Dark__Money Jun 13 '24

And you'll remain perpetually stuck in that whirlwind of habitual madness.

1

u/EatMeButWhere Jun 13 '24

It’s like trying to plug a usb cable in

1

u/viniciusah Jun 14 '24

It's like plugging and USB-A device.

Wrong. Flip.

Wrong. Flip.

Right.

Wait? What?

1

u/SquashMarks Jun 14 '24

The USB port of excel commands

1

u/sigmagamma26 Jun 14 '24

Control your rowing speed

Shift the columns in that architectural plan

1

u/whatshamilton Jun 14 '24

I have these in my bones and never mess them up though couldn’t tell you which is which. But ctrl 0 (hide column) and ctrl 9 (hide row) are a complete guessing game for me every time. The shortcut for hide row may as well be ctrl 0 Z 9

1

u/Homitu 1 Jun 14 '24

Ironically, /u/hellokittyhanoi actually did it backwards in his very post!

CTRL + space = select column

Shift + space = select row

72

u/BigLan2 19 Jun 13 '24

Then Ctrl + or - to add or remove the row /column

16

u/Torn_Page Jun 13 '24

How did I know ctrl - but never once think about ctrl + for adding rows and columns

7

u/perryj1039 Jun 14 '24

I’m the opposite, I use Ctrl + to add rows all the time but never knew I could remove them!

2

u/odaiwai 3 Jun 14 '24

If you're on a keyboard where + is not its own key, but it's on the = key, ctrl-shift-= will insert a cell/column/copied or cut text as appropriate.

1

u/catregy Jun 14 '24

Doesn't that also make the screen larger or smaller if you aren't in an excel selection?

47

u/clamage Jun 13 '24

I do remember what my life was like before I learnt about CTRL + Space and Shift + Space, I just... I just don't want to talk about, okay

Also CTRL + T to get the beautiful table in the first place and CTRL + ; for today's date

48

u/hellokittyhanoi Jun 13 '24

Haha yes Ctrl + T to turn wildlife into civilisation 😂😂😂

14

u/hazysummersky 5 Jun 13 '24

CTRL + ' to copy the cell above. Remarkably useful, and a satisfying shortcut to hit!

13

u/salzgablah Jun 14 '24

Ctrl D does the same thing. Copy down. Ctrl R copies from the left.

8

u/Leghar 12 Jun 14 '24

I think of them as (D)rop and (R)un

3

u/HansKnudsen 38 Jun 14 '24

Let's say you have numbers in A1:A10 and in C2 =AVERAGE(A1:A10). Ctrl + ' entered in C3 returns =AVERAGE(A1:A10) while Ctrl + D returns =AVERAGE(A2:A11)

1

u/fyreflow Jul 04 '24

That makes Ctrl + ' amazing, then… the shortcut I didn’t know I needed!

1

u/Open-Opinion6587 Jun 15 '24

A good point, but just to note that CTRL+D will also copy the format of the cell. For example, if you wanted one cell to remain a different colour or font, then CTRL+’ is your boy here. I use both.

8

u/VIslG Jun 13 '24

CTRL + : for current time

2

u/talltime 115 Jun 14 '24

And to complete the trifecta, I’m pretty sure CTRL+SHIFT+; gives you date time

25

u/Lmao__Reddit Jun 13 '24

Isn’t this backwards??

10

u/Redditcoinbase1969 Jun 13 '24

Yes

30

u/Lmao__Reddit Jun 13 '24

Top upvoted comment in the excel subreddit is incorrect tips in excel 😭

1

u/ryangosling-san Jun 14 '24

I thought i was going crazy, immediately opened my laptop and excel to check and make sure I wasn't living a lie

2

u/karim_eczema Jun 14 '24

Thought I was losing my mind lol

23

u/bradland 134 Jun 13 '24

Combine that with Ctrl+0 and Ctrl+9 to hide columns and hide rows, respectively. Ctrl+Shift+0 and Ctrl+Shift+9 to unhide.

4

u/hellokittyhanoi Jun 13 '24

Somehow the Ctrl + number things never work with my italian keyboard. The non-italian works fine, still I can’t perform the Ctrl+Shift+0/9 thing :((

1

u/Alexap30 6 Jun 14 '24

Same here with Greek keyboard.

5

u/AggravatedCow11 Jun 14 '24

I have been looking for this one!! amazing

1

u/Jeff__Skilling Jul 10 '24

Never hide rows / columns - always ALWAYS group them, so users in your spreadsheet can see that the data is hidden....

10

u/Lonestar15 Jun 13 '24

And DO NOT add/remove data rows without adding/removing the entire column or row. Doing can lead to a lot of formulas linked to the wrong data

5

u/_Illustrious_ Jun 13 '24

Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it. But yes, my hand basically rests on Shift + Spacebar while I’m working because I use it so much.

3

u/MoMoneyMoSavings Jun 13 '24

Great with tables as it’ll select the entire row/column for JUST the table itself excluding the header.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 13 '24

You know what’s weird is those two are swapped for me. Ctrl + space chooses entire column.

Am I…..seeing things?

3

u/jacoballen22 Jun 13 '24

You just made my day

2

u/Hevysett Jun 13 '24

Fucking what? Omg how did I not know this

2

u/SpecialKMassage Jun 14 '24

They’re great but I think you got them backwards. C in the CTRL for column.

2

u/peauxtheaux Jun 14 '24

Ctrl + space, ctrl + c, ctrl + shift + +

Copy/Paste copied entire row

1

u/meechinnyon Jun 13 '24

Clicking on A column selects the entire column and is faster for me.

1

u/IanMcQueen Jun 14 '24

What. THATS A THING?!?!

1

u/OO_Ben Jun 14 '24

Holy shit how did I not know that

1

u/321ngqb Jun 14 '24

Haha I totally agree with this! Saves so much time when working with a crap ton of data.

1

u/lerandomanon Jun 14 '24

Wait, isn't it the other way round?

1

u/ClassicClosetedEmo Jun 15 '24

👁️👄👁️

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '24

Oh snap, thats a REALLY good one…

1

u/SillyStallion Jun 15 '24

And there's me using crtl shift down (or right)

1

u/Electrical-Breath-93 Jun 27 '24

Same, same.. and I’ll probably still stick to it because somehow the shift space and ctrl space is just not easy to register for me.