The 10 Microsoft Excel Shortcuts Every Professional Should Know

Professionals in all fields rely on Microsoft Office Suite software for work.  In particular, professionals use Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel at a high frequency.  Sadly, most people waste an incredible amount of time using the “long way” in Microsoft Excel and other software programs.  Our tech geeks are here to detail the most important Excel shortcuts.  Implement these shortcuts and you will find you complete more work in less time.

Date Insertion

You can insert the date into a spreadsheet by pressing two buttons.  Hit the Control key and the Semicolon key in unison to insert the current date.

Go to the end of the Spreadsheet

Reach the end of the spreadsheet in a moment’s notice by pressing the Control key and the End key at the same time.  The combination of these keys moves the mouse cursor to the active range’s bottom right corner.  For those who do not know, active range is defined as the range starting at cell A1 and extending to the point at which the right-most column and bottom-most row intersect.  It does not matter if that data was deleted; this shortcut will work regardless.

Insert the Time

You can instantaneously add the current time to your Excel spreadsheet.  Simply press the Control key at the same time as the Shift key and Semicolon key to insert the current time.

Hide a Column

Don’t bother accessing menus and clicking several times over to hide columns when you can hide the current column by simply pressing the Control key and the 0 (zero) key in unison.  In fact, if several columns are selected, this shortcut can hide them all.  The shortcut will even work when using the Control key to highlight several columns far away from on another.

Reach Cell A1

If you would like to reach cell A1 without delay, hit the Control key and the Home key.  This combination of keys will immediately move the cursor to cell A1.  However, if the Transition navigation keys are on, you can simply press the Home key to reach cell A1.

Select a Column

Press the Spacebar and Control keys in unison to select the full column where the mouse cursor is currently positioned.

Select the Full Worksheet

Hit the Control key and the A key outside of a range of data to select the full worksheet.

Select a Data Range

If you would like to select a range of data, simply hit the Control key in unison with the A key in the data range.

Select a Row

To quickly select a row in your spreadsheet, press the Spacebar and Shift keys at these same time.  This shortcut will select the full row at which the cursor is positioned.

Shortcut for the SUM Function

You can insert the SUM function by pressing the Alt key and the equal sign at the same time in a cell beneath a column of numbers.