Keyboard Shortcuts

Did you know...you can completely control your computer with your keyboard! Before mice were invented, this is exactly what people had to do. And you still can. How exciting.

But why would you want to give up (or at least reduce) the use of your mouse? Well, it's all about speed. With a mouse, you have to

• find the pointer on the screen
• find where you want to click
• move the mouse and visually check that it is where you want to click
• click.

The reason for the visual error checking is that the mouse could be anywhere and could go anywhere on the screen, but you need to make sure it is over that particular little spot you want to click on. And to acomplish one action, you usually have to go through several menu options, so have to repeat the cycle several times.

Your keyboard does not move, however, so there is much less hand-eye-screen checking to do, so it is faster. And I have the science to back it up! If you repeatedly perform the same actions, your muscles remember how to move. This is how you are able to drive without looking at your feet - the pedals don't move so after performing the actions of accelerating, breaking and changing gear for a while, you can do so automatically, without even thinking. This is known as muscle memory.

Now, this isn't some masochistic exercise in committing to memory long lists of keystrokes. Yes, it will take a while to get used to them, and to stop reaching for the mouse, but once you've learned a few, you will find they are much, much quicker than using the mouse.

A word on notation:

• if I use the "+" sign, it means press these keys at the same time.
• if I use the "," sign, it means press them one at a time, in order.
• if I use the "[]" signs, it means you have more than one choice - I hope it is clear from the context what that choice is.

General shortcuts (these are true of all Office applications, and many other non-Microsoft applications, too)
Cut: Ctrl+X
Copy: Ctrl+C
Paste: Ctrl+V
Undo: Ctrl+Z
Redo: Ctrl+Y
Save: Ctrl+S
Print: Ctrl+P
New workbook (or new document in Word, new Email in Outlook, etc): Ctrl+N
Find: Ctrl+F
Replace: Ctrl+H
(note that with Find and Replace you can choose to look in either the cell value, or the cell formula, and can search the sheet you are on, or the whole workbook)

Select...
Select entire row: Shift+Space
Select entire column: Ctrl+Space
Select all: Ctrl+A
Select all contiguous cells: Ctrl+Shift+Space
Select multiple cells: Shift+[arrow key]
Select contiguous row, column, or both: Ctrl+Shift+[combination of one or more arrow keys]
Jump to next populated cell, or last cell in contiguous group: Ctrl+[arrow key]

Insert...
Insert row above: Alt,I,R
Insert column to left: Alt,I,C
Insert AutoFilter: Alt,D,F,F
Sort data: Alt,D,S
Create PivotTable: Alt,D,P
To insert a copied cell over a range, first select the range, the press Ctrl+Enter
(this one is very useful)

Right mouse key (RMK)...
(many of you have a right mouse key on your keyboard - looks like a menu with a mouse pointer over it: )
Paste Special: RMK,S,
Paste Special (Values only): RMK,S,V,Enter
Paste Special (Formulas only): RMK,S,F,Enter
Paste Special (Values only, and transpose): RMK,S,V,E,Enter
Delete (entire rows/columns, first select them): RMK,D

Other...
Format cells: Ctrl+1
Create a chart: F11
(this is great for quickly checking a series of data)
Edit cell contents: F2
Repeat an action: F4