Excel Shortcuts: 12 Mandatory Hotkeys For Beginners

Instead of using a mouse or touchpad, you can use Excel shortcuts to speed up work. This only uses your keyboard.

In this guide, you will learn to use the most popular Excel Hotkeys Combinations as follows:

Shortcuts	Function
Ctrl + A	To quickly select all containing and adjacent cells without using the mouse/touchpad. A second consecutive use will select all cells in the Worksheet.
Ctrl + C	Copy all data in selected columns, rows, cells, or ranges in a worksheet.
Ctrl + X	Cut all data in the selected column, row, cell, or data range.
Ctrl + V	Paste the copy CTRL + C and cut CTRL + X results.
Ctrl + Z	Undo changes or revert the Excel file to before the changes.
Ctrl + Y	To redo changes that have been undone.
Ctrl + Arrow	To move quickly. For example, the shortcut Ctrl + ↓ will quickly move the selected cell to the bottom cell. Vice versa with the up, left, and right arrows – According to the direction of the arrow.
Shift + Arrow	Select cells one by one. The shortcut Shift + ↓ will select 1 cell below it. Vice versa with the up, left, and right arrows.
CTRL + Shift + Arrow	To quickly select multiple cells. For example, the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + ↓ will select all cells containing data down to the bottom cell. Vice versa with the up, left, and right arrows.
Alt + =	To enter the SUM Function automatically.
Ctrl + D	To copy the formula to the row below it automatically.
Ctrl + R	To copy the formula to the right column automatically.

For in-depth understanding, please follow the following guide on how to use Excel Shortcuts. I have an interesting example!

Before continuing, please download the following Excel file for practice using Excel shortcuts:

Excel Shortcuts: Ctrl + A , Ctrl + C, Ctrl + X, Ctrl + V, Ctrl + Z, and Ctrl + Y

Note: Before starting, when I mentioned Ctrl + C it means, press the Ctrl and C keys simultaneously on your keyboard. Instead of pressing the Ctrl key, + key, and C key on the keyboard. Likewise with other hotkey combinations.

Let’s go directly to the example…

Here’s an example of using keyboard shortcuts in Excel:

1. Click any cell on your Worksheet.
2. Press Ctrl + A simultaneously to select all data ranges.
3. Press Ctrl + C to copy. (Or Ctrl + X for cut).
4. Click cell A6.
5. Press Ctrl + V. Here are the results:

In stage 3, I used Ctrl + C. Automatically, Excel made a copy of the data to range A6:E9 after pressing the Ctrl + V keys.

However, if you don’t want to copy it, please press Ctrl + Z to undo changes to your Excel file.

Important! If you don’t know what a range, cell, row, and column are, please visit the Excel Range Guide on M Jurnal.

Then try repeating steps 1 – 5 above by changing step 3 to Ctrl + X. Then Excel will move the data range to the destination as shown in the following image:

Very easy!

I’m sure you already understand the basics of Excel shortcuts using the keyboard.

Excel Shortcuts: Ctrl + Arrow (Up, Down, Left, and Right)

You can use the up, down, left, and right arrow keys on the keyboard to move from one cell to another. However, you only move 1 by 1 cell.

But, you can quickly move from the first cell to the last cell (cells containing data only), using Ctrl + Arrows (Up, Down, Left, or Right). For example, I select cell A2 as shown in the following image:

Then, to quickly move to Cell E2, please press the Ctrl + → buttons simultaneously. Here are the results:

Please try on your computer with the down, up, and left arrows.

Excel Shortcuts: Ctrl + Shift + Arrow and Shift + Arrow

Previously, the key combination Ctrl + A would select all cells containing adjacent data.

If you only want to select a few adjacent cells in a data range, then use Ctrl + Shift + Arrow.

For example, click cell A1:

To quickly select all cells A2, A3, and A4, please press the Ctrl + Shift + ↓ keys. Here are the results:

Then, if you want to select up to column C, please press the Shift + → key 2x. Here are the results:

Alt + = As a Shortcut to the SUM Formula

The hotkey combination Alt + = is useful for automatically inserting the SUM Formula into your data. Look at the following image:

1. Click Cell F2.
2. Press the Alt + = keys on the keyboard simultaneously.
3. Excel automatically enters the SUM formula. Press Enter. Here are the results:

That is easy!

By pressing the Alt + = keys, you can quickly enter the SUM Function.

Ctrl + D and Ctrl + R As a Copy-Paste or AutoFill Shortcut

To quickly copy-paste or Autofill the SUM formula above into cells F3 and F4, please follow these steps:

1. Click the cell containing the formula (F2).
2. Press Shift + ↓ 2x.
3. Press Ctrl + D to copy the formula. Here are the results:

Ctrl + D just copies the data down. However, if you want to copy the data/formula to the right, please use Ctrl + R.

On top of all that, there is no Excel shortcut for copying data/formulas up and to the left of cells.

Excel Hotkeys is easy and fast, right?

Next, please use the following Shortcuts Guide to learn all about Excel Shortcuts. Or visit the Excel Guide Center on M Jurnal to learn all the Microsoft Excel tutorials.