Hybrid Shortcuts Archives - Faster At Excel

Excel Chart Shortcuts: Hybrid Mutants

September 8, 2016 by terp Leave a Comment

Hybrid Excel Chart Shortcuts: How To Format, Select Data and Modify Fonts

When you right click on a Chart (or in any other context), you typically get a “context menu” that looks something like the ones further down the screen. Context menus give you a sort of hidden shortcut option I call “hybrid” shortcuts. They work by simply typing the underlined hot key for a menu option — rather than clicking on it.

I call these shortcuts “hybrid” shortcuts because they’re part keyboard shortcut, part mouse shortcut. If they were animals, they might be half-man, half-beast. Kind of like the mutants below.

My favorite hybrid shortcuts involve virtually no extra motion from my hands. My left hand stays on the left side of the keyboard and my right hand stays on the mouse. Call me lazy.

[Read more…]

How Do You Paste Special In Excel?

June 28, 2016 by terp Leave a Comment

What Is Your Excel Paste Special Profile

How do you Paste Special in Excel? Leave a comment!

Are you an AA, AB, BA or BA? See the questions below.

(1) How do you bring up the Excel Paste Special menu(s)?

(A) With the mouse (by right-clicking)?

(B) With the keyboard (with the menu key)?

(2) How do you select your Excel Paste Special option?

(A) With the mouse (by clicking)

(B) With the keyboard (by typing the hot key)

I strive to be an AB (I right click to bring up the menu, then click on the hot key to choose the option).

But that’s only when the hot key is on the left side of the keyboard.

Why? I prefer keeping my right hand on the mouse as much as possible. I find it faster to click on an option than move my right hand off the mouse, onto the keyboard to type it, and then back to the mouse. For example, I’ll do a RC-V (right-click-V) to Paste Values. I call this a “hybrid shortcut” since it uses both the mouse and the keyboard.

But I won’t do a RC-N for Paste Links — I find it faster to just click on the Paste Link icon. That would make me an AA in that situation (doing everything with the mouse) in this case. Maybe I’m just lazy or averse to change…

If my right hand DOES happen to be on the keyboard already, then I’ll do a BB (everything with the keyboard). For example, to do Paste Special in this situation, I’ll do a MK-N (menu-key-N).

What about you? AA, AB, BA or BB?

4 Excel Shortcut Myths Debunked

January 5, 2016 by terp Leave a Comment

Why are Excel shortcut myths dangerous?

Why, you ask? Because Excel is the most popular business software ever in the world (hundreds of millions of users), and probably the most important. If you are in the business world, you need to know Excel, and the faster you can be at Excel (e.g., with shortcuts), the faster your business (or your part of it) will run. The faster you and your business can run, the more successful you will be. This means: promotions, pay increases and greater job satisfaction. Being fast at Excel makes you more valuable as employee, which increases your upward mobility on the pay scale. All kinds of new possibilities are opened up for such magnificent people.

If you decide to put off learning shortcuts, then you are putting off advancing your career. Therefore, any myths and misconceptions that keep you from learning shortcuts are dangerous to your career. Multiply this by several hundred million people and you’re hindering the global economy!!! You are in fact decreasing the total amount of cosmic happiness!!! These myths are dangerous indeed! They are nearly as dangerous and misguided as the ancient practice of bloodletting (see below). Bloodletting is as smart as avoiding Excel shortcuts. See, these evil men below are simultaneously bleeding the naked guy in the chair and telling him Excel shortcuts are bad for his health.

L0003183 Bloodletting, 16th Century Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org Patient sitting in a chair with an attendant holding a bowl between his legs to catch blood from the open wound in his stomach. Two others in attendance. 16th Century Feldbuch der Wundartzney Gersdorf, Hans von Published: 1540 Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ — L0003183 Bloodletting, 16th Century
Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
images@wellcome.ac.uk
http://wellcomeimages.org
Patient sitting in a chair with an attendant holding a bowl between his legs to catch blood from the open wound in his stomach. Two others in attendance.
16th Century Feldbuch der Wundartzney
Gersdorf, Hans von
Published: 1540
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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8 Types Of Excel Shortcuts (Ctrl, Shift, Ctrl+Shift, Alt, F-Key, QAT, Mouse, Hybrid)

December 1, 2015 by terp Leave a Comment

How Many Types Of Excel Shortcuts Are There?

Excel shortcuts come in eight basic flavors (there are more but these are the main ones):

Ctrl shortcuts (which use the Ctrl key)
Shift shortcuts (which use the Shift key)
Ctrl+Shift shortcuts (which use the Ctrl and Shift keys together)
Alt shortcuts (which use the Alt key)
F-key shortcuts (which use the F-keys)
QAT shortcuts (which use the Quick Access Toolbar)
Mouse shortcuts (which use the right-click menu)
Hybrid shortcuts (which use both the mouse (typically right-clicking) and the keyboard)

Below, I’ll go through each type of shortcut briefly, with a few examples of each.

But first, here is an animation of Alt shortcuts to whet your appetite:

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Excel Data Selection & Navigation Shortcuts: Part I

November 13, 2015 by terp Leave a Comment

What are some basic Excel data selection and navigation shortcuts that use the keyboard and the mouse (hybrid shortcuts)?

Excel data selection and navigation skills are critical for becoming faster, especially if you’re an analyst working with exported data. Once you learn the fundamentals there are dozens if not over a hundred useful navigation shortcut combinations. If you manage a lot of files with large data sets, these shortcuts are absolutely indispensable and will save you a ton of time and help you keep your concentration. Once you’ve mastered them you will fly around your spreadsheets like nobody’s bidness and probably impress your boss in the process.

In this post I will start simple, then quickly move up to more advanced tactics. [Read more…]