Most Useful Keyboard Shortcuts for Microsoft Excel

Using the shortcut keys can drastically save your of working time, dealing effectively with many small (but frequently repeated) actions.

The main improvement that the keystrokes offer is that you don't have to get your hands off the keyboard and grab the mouse and start visually searching for menus and buttons.

For Example, to add a new workbook (a new Excel file) without a shortcut, you must click the "Office Button", choose "New" and then double click the "Blank Workbook" icon. Only now you can bring your hand back to the keyboard and continue your work.



Note for newbies: The plus sign "+" means the keys should be pressed simultaneously. The Ctrl and Alt keys are located on the bottom left and bottom right sides of most keyboards.

Ctrl+N  →  Create a new workbook.
Ctrl+O  →  Open an existing workbook.
Ctrl+S  →  Save the active workbook.
F12  →  Save the active workbook under a new name, displays the Save as dialog box.
CTRL+W  →  Close the active workbook.
Ctrl+C  →  Copy the contents of the selected cells to Clipboard.
Ctrl+X  →  Cut the contents of the selected cells to Clipboard.
Ctrl+V  →  Insert the contents of the Clipboard into the selected cell(s).
Ctrl+Z  →  Undo your last action. Panic button :)
Ctrl+P  →  Open the "Print" dialog.
 

Formatting data
Ctrl+1   → Open the "Format Cells" dialog.
Ctrl+T   → "Convert selected cells to a table. You can also select any cell in a range of related data, and pressing CTRL+T will make it a table.

Working with formulas
Tab →   Autocomplete the function name. Example: Enter = and start typing vl, press Tab and you will get =vlookup(
F4 →   Cycle through various combinations of formula reference types. Place the cursor within a cell and hit F4 to get the needed reference type: absolute, relative or mixed (relative column and absolute row, absolute column and relative row).
CTRL+` →  Toggle between displaying cell values and formulas.
CTRL+' →   Insert the formula of the above cell into the currently selected cell or the Formula Bar.

Navigating and viewing data
CTRL+F1 → Show / hide the Excel Ribbon. Hide the ribbon to view more than 4 rows of   data.
Ctrl + Tab → Switch to the next open Excel workbook.
Ctrl+PgDown → Switch to the next worksheet. Press Ctrl+PgUp to switch to the previous sheet.
Ctrl+G → Open the "Go to" dialog. Pressing F5 displays the same dialog.
CTRL+F → Display the "Find" dialog box.
Home → Return to the 1st cell of the current row in a worksheet.
Ctrl+Home → Move to the beginning of a worksheet (A1 cell).