Handy Excel keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac

Excel’s Ribbon is great for finding everything you might ever want to do in a spreadsheet, particularly things you don’t do frequently, like managing and querying data connections or automatically grabbing geographic statistics from the internet and inserting them into cells.

But if you’re looking to do things fast, you’ll find keyboard shortcuts far more useful. Why bother to lift your hands from the keyboard if you want to open or close a file, apply formatting to cells, navigate through workbooks, undo and redo actions, calculate all worksheets in all open workbooks, and more? With keyboard shortcuts you won’t have to.

There are keyboard shortcuts to accomplish a vast array of tasks in the Excel desktop client, in both the Windows and Mac versions. (Fewer shortcuts are available for the Mac, but you can create your own custom keyboard shortcuts if you like.)

We’ve listed the shortcuts we’ve found the most useful below. Most work whether you’re using a subscription (Microsoft 365/Office 365) or non-subscription version of Excel. For even more shortcuts, see Microsoft’s Office site.

Useful Excel keyboard shortcuts

Note: On Macs, the ⌘ key is the same as the Command or Cmd key. Also note that with many Mac keyboards, you must press the Fn key in addition to a function key.

General shortcuts

ActionWindows key combinationMac key combinationCreate a new workbookCtrl-N⌘-NOpen a workbookCtrl-O⌘-OSave a workbookCtrl-S⌘-SClose a workbookCtrl-W⌘-WPrint a workbookCtrl-P⌘-PInsert a new worksheet (tab)Alt-Shift-F1Shift-Fn-F11Display the Find dialog boxCtrl-FControl-FDisplay the Go To dialog boxF5Fn-F5Undo the last actionCtrl-Z⌘-Z or Control-ZRedo the last actionCtrl-Y⌘-Y or Control-YInsert or edit a cell commentShift-F2⌘-Shift-Fn-F2Select all cells that contain commentsCtrl-Shift-O Spell-check the active worksheet or selected rangeF7Fn-F7

Worksheet navigation

ActionWindows key combinationMac key combinationMove one screen up / downPgUp / PgDnPage Up / Page Down orFn-up arrow / Fn-down arrowMove one screen to the left / rightAlt-PgUp / Alt-PgDnOption-Page Up / Option-Page Down orFn-Option-up arrow / Fn-Option-down arrowMove one worksheet tab to the left / rightCtrl-PgUp / Ctrl-PgDnControl-Page Down / Control-Page Up or Option-right arrow / Option-Left arrowMove one cell up / downup arrow / down arrowup arrow / down arrowMove to the next cell to the rightTabright arrowMove to the cell to the leftShift-Tableft arrowMove to the beginning of a rowHomeHome or Fn-left arrowMove to the beginning of a worksheetCtrl-HomeControl-Home orControl-Fn-Left arrowMove to the last cell that has content in itCtrl-EndControl-End orControl-Fn-right arrowMove to the word to the left while in a cellCtrl-left arrow⌘-left arrowMove to the word to the right while in a cellCtrl-right arrow⌘-right arrowDisplay the Go To dialog boxCtrl-G or F5Ctrl-G or Fn-F5Switch between the worksheet, the Ribbon, the task pane, and Zoom controlsF6Fn-F6If more than one worksheet is open, switch to the next oneCtrl-F6⌘-~

Working with data

ActionWindows key combinationMac key combinationSelect a rowShift-SpacebarShift-SpacebarSelect a columnCtrl-SpacebarControl-SpacebarSelect an entire worksheetCtrl-A or Ctrl-Shift-Spacebar⌘-AExtend selection by a single cellShift-arrow keyShift-arrow keyExtend selection down / up one screenShift-PgDn / Shift-PgUpShift-PgDn / Shift-PgUp orShift-Fn-down arrow / Shift-Fn-up arrowExtend selection to the beginning of a rowShift-HomeShift-Home or Shift-Fn-left arrowExtend selection to the beginning of the worksheetCtrl-Shift-HomeControl-Shift-Home orControl-Shift-Fn-left arrowHide selected rowsCtrl-9⌘-9 or Control-9Unhide hidden rows in a selectionCtrl-Shift-(⌘-Shift-( or Control-Shift-(Hide selected columnsCtrl-0⌘-0 or Control-0Unhide hidden columns in a selectionCtrl-Shift-)⌘-Shift-) or Control-Shift-)Copy cell’s contents to the clipboardCtrl-C⌘-C or Control-CCopy and delete cell’s contentsCtrl-X⌘-X or Control-XPaste from the clipboard into a cellCtrl-V⌘-V or Control-VDisplay the Paste Special dialog boxCtrl-Alt-V⌘-Option-V or Control-Option-VFinish entering data in a cell and move to the next cell down / upEnter / Shift-EnterEnter / Shift-EnterCancel your entry in a cellEscEscUse Flash Fill to fill the current column based on adjacent columnsCtrl-EControl-EInsert the current dateCtrl-;Control-;Insert the current timeCtrl-Shift-;⌘-;Display the Create Table dialog boxCtrl-T or Ctrl-LControl-TWhen in the formula bar, move the cursor to the end of the textCtrl-End⌘-End or⌘-Fn-right arrowWhen in the formula bar, select all text from the cursor to the endCtrl-Shift-End⌘-Shift-End or⌘-Shift-Fn-right arrowDisplay Quick Analysis options for selected cells that contain dataCtrl-Q Create, run, edit, or delete a macroAlt-F8Option-Fn-F8

Formatting cells and data

ActionWindows key combinationMac key combinationDisplay the Format Cells dialog boxCtrl-1⌘-1 or Control-1Display the Style dialog box (Windows) / Modify Cell Style dialog box (Mac)Alt-‘Option-‘Apply a border to a cell or selectionCtrl-Shift-&⌘-Option-0Remove a border from a cell or selectionCtrl-Shift-_ (underscore)⌘-Option– (hyphen)Apply the Currency format with two decimal placesCtrl-Shift-$Control-Shift-$Apply the Number formatCtrl-Shift-~Control-Shift-~Apply the Percentage format with no decimal placesCtrl-Shift-%Control-Shift-%Apply the Date format using day, month, and yearCtrl-Shift-#Control-Shift-#Apply the Time format using the 12-hour clockCtrl-Shift-@Control-Shift-@Insert a hyperlinkCtrl-K⌘-K or Control-K

Working with formulas and functions

ActionWindows key combinationMac key combinationBegin a formula==Insert a functionShift-F3Shift-Fn-F3Insert an AutoSum functionAlt-=⌘-Shift-TAccept / insert function with AutoCompleteTabTab-down arrowCancel an entry in the cell or formula barEscEscEdit active cell, put insertion point at endF2Control-UToggle between displaying formulas and cell valuesCtrl-`Control-`Cycle formula references among absolute, relative, and mixedF4⌘-T or Fn-F4Copy and paste the formula from the cell above into the current oneCtrl-‘Control-Shift-“Calculate the current worksheetShift-F9Shift-Fn-F9Calculate all worksheets in all workbooks that are openF9Fn-F9Expand or collapse the formula barCtrl-Shift-UControl-Shift-U

Ribbon navigation

Excel for Mac does not have keyboard shortcuts for the Ribbon.

ActionWindows key combinationDisplay Ribbon shortcutsAltGo to the File tabAlt-FGo to the Home tabAlt-HGo to the Insert tabAlt-NGo to the Page Layout tabAlt-PGo to the Formulas tabAlt-MGo to the Data tabAlt-AGo to the Review tabAlt-RGo to the View tabAlt-WPut cursor in the Tell Me or Search boxAlt-QGo to the Chart Design tab when cursor is on a chartAlt-JCGo to the Format tab when cursor is on a chartAlt-JAGo to the Table Design tab when cursor is on a tableAlt-JTGo to the Picture Format tab when cursor is on an imageAlt-JPGo to the Draw tab (if available)Alt-JIGo to the Power Pivot tab (if available)Alt-B Source: Microsoft

Looking for more help with Excel for Windows? If you have an Office subscription, see “Excel for Office 365/Microsoft 365 cheat sheet.” If you have a non-subscription version of Office, see “Excel 2016 and 2019 cheat sheet.” We’ve also got cheat sheets for an array of other Microsoft products, including older versions of Office.

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