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Memorize these 10 Excel shortcuts to boost your productivity

It’s easier than ever to instantly become a spreadsheet master. All you have to do is ditch the mouse and start using keyboard shortcuts instead.

man typing on computer keyboardLearning keyboard shortcuts and other Excel tricks can help you save time on daily tasks. (lenetstan/Shutterstock)

If you’re aiming for extreme productivity with Excel, you’ll need to ditch your mouse and keep your hands on the keyboard. That means developing a repertoire of keyboard shortcuts that can help you create, edit, and navigate your spreadsheet efficiently. 

Commit these 10 time-saving tricks to memory:

  1. Add the current date to a cell with Ctrl + Semicolon (PC) or Control + Semicolon (Mac)
  2. Add the current time to a cell with Ctrl + Shift + Colon (PC) or Command + Semicolon (Mac)
  3. Navigate to the edge of a sheet with Ctrl + any arrow button (PC) or Command + any arrow key (Mac)
  4. Navigate to the first cell of a worksheet with Ctrl + Home (PC) or Fn + Control + ← (Mac)
  5. Navigate to the last filled cell of a worksheet with Ctrl + End (PC) or Fn + Control + → (Mac)
  6. Open Excel Help with F1 (PC) or Command + / (Mac)
  7. Check spelling with F7 (PC and Mac)
  8. Shift between Excel worksheets with Ctrl + PgUp or PgDn (PC) or Option + → or Option + ← (Mac)
  9. Open the formatting dialog box with Ctrl +1 (PC) or Command + 1
  10. Open the Find dialog box with Ctrl + F (PC) or Control + F (Mac)

Please note that Mac shortcuts may vary. The shortcuts described here work in Excel 2016 with a US English keyboard layout.

Learning these shortcuts and other Excel tricks can help you save time on daily tasks. But to really boost your data-management skills, you’ll need to learn Power Query, a feature that can help you automate data cleanup tasks.

DATA MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATE CAN HELP

CPA Canada’s new Data Management Certificate is a five-course online program that helps business and accounting professionals understand how to use data to produce financial insights. The first course in the certificate, Data preparation: Cleansing, modelling and dashboards, focuses on Power Query.