TUESDAY TIPS: 15 shortcuts to supercharge your Excel efficiency

I recently read that Ctrl + C is the most popular shortcut in Microsoft Excel (source: “the internet”).  A quick LinkedIn poll seems to corroborate this. That is, assuming that a sample of 𝟸̶𝟹̶ 25 respondents can be considered representative of the ~1 billion Excel users worldwide.

While I’m no shortcut absolutist – I think it’s perfectly OK to not know the shortcut to the thesaurus, for example – I do know that you can greatly improve your financial modelling efficiency by learning a handful (or rather, three handfuls) of shortcuts by heart. If you find yourself reaching for the mouse or touchpad to do the same thing a few times a day, make a point of memorising the shortcut. If you know where to find the action on the ribbon, you’re halfway there already: simply hit Alt and follow the ribbon prompts while memorising the sequence for future reference.

Having said this, in my view it is the navigation shortcuts that offer the biggest potential efficiency gains and these are often not on the ribbon. I have therefore compiled a list of 15 shortcuts which I think offer the highest ‘ROI’ to Excel users. If you master these, I guarantee you will exponentially increase your Excel speed.

1) Ctrl + Arrow keys Move to the last adjacent cell in the current region or the next non-blank cell if the active cell is blank
2) Ctrl + Shift + Arrow keys Select the range from the active cell to the last adjacent cell
3) Ctrl + R  Copy active cell contents and paste to the right in selection
4) Ctrl + D  Copy active cell contents and paste down in selection
5) F2 Activate formula edit mode (this is useful for checking formulas as you work)
6) Ctrl + Shift + Plus (+) Insert
7) Ctrl + Minus (-) Delete
8) Ctrl + C Copy
9) Ctrl + V Paste (all properties)
10) Alt + E + S Paste Special
11) Ctrl + PgUp / PgDn Move one sheet to the left / right
12) Ctrl + Z Undo
13) Ctrl + Y Redo
14) Alt + Tab Toggle between workbooks / applications
15) F4* (while in formula edit mode) Cycle through absolute / relative reference combinations

* Bonus tip:  F4 can also be used to repeat the last action

A ward of warning…
Some of the above shortcuts may differ across keyboards.