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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/

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Excel Shortcuts, Paste Special, Save Tagged With: Excel Keyboard Shortcuts, Excel Shortcuts, Hybrid Shortcuts, Paste Special, Quick Access Toolbar - QAT

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):

  1. Ctrl shortcuts (which use the Ctrl key)
  2. Shift shortcuts (which use the Shift key)
  3. Ctrl+Shift shortcuts (which use the Ctrl and Shift keys together)
  4. Alt shortcuts (which use the Alt key)
  5. F-key shortcuts (which use the F-keys)
  6. QAT shortcuts (which use the Quick Access Toolbar)
  7. Mouse shortcuts (which use the right-click menu)
  8. 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:

excel-alt-shortcut-filter

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Cut Copy Paste, Delete, Excel Shortcuts, Format Cells, Hybrid shortcuts, Keyboard Shortcuts, Navigation Shortcuts, Right Click, Save Tagged With: Alt Shortcuts, Excel Keyboard Shortcuts, Excel Mouse Shortcuts, Excel Shortcuts, F-Key Shortcuts, Hybrid Shortcuts, Quick Access Toolbar - QAT

Use The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) To Create Custom Excel Shortcuts

November 11, 2015 by terp Leave a Comment

What and where is Excel’s Quick Access Toolbar?

If you have certain formats that you use a lot but for which there’s no easy shortcut, you can put them on your QAT or Quick Access Toolbar.  This is the skinny toolbar that by default sits above the Ribbon – but that I move to below the Ribbon for easier access – see below:

excel-quick-access-toolbar-qat

You’ll notice that, while I use Bold, Italics and Underline a lot, I don’t have them on the QAT.  Why?  Because I already have Ctrl-2/3/4 or B/I/U.  If I change cell colors and font colors a lot, I can put those on the QAT (as I’ve done above).  This way they’re within easy reach no matter which Ribbon tab I’m on.

But another benefit of putting them on the QAT is that you give yourself the option of basically creating your own new customized keyboard shortcuts.  If you hit the Alt key you’ll see the Ribbon and the QAT light up with keyboard shortcuts:

excel-quick-access-toolbar-qat-shortcut-key-tips

How do I create my own custom Excel shortcuts using the Quick Access Toolbar?

The ones on the left of the Quick Access Toolbar are fairly easy to type in with your left hand – e.g., Alt-1 for Commas.  I like to have my numbers formatted with commas but no decimals, and the fastest way I’ve found is to place the Comma and Decrease Decimal icons in the number 1 and number 2 positions so I can just type Alt-1-2-2 to (1) add the Comma formatting (which also puts in two decimals) by typing “1” and then (2) remove the two decimals by typing “2” twice.

Unlike with the Ctrl shortcuts, Alt shortcuts don’t require you to keep the key depressed (though you can if you want).  For example, to use Comma formatting you can hit Alt-1 (press Alt and then, while keeping it down, type “1” – the same way you would type Ctrl-1 for the Format Cells dialog box) – or you can let go of Alt before you type “1” (using the QAT in the illustration above).  In my number formatting example (comma and no decimals) I can go faster by keeping the Alt key depressed, as this saves me from re-typing Alt for each shortcut – meaning I type Alt-1-2-2 instead of Alt-1, Alt-2, Alt-2.

Depending on the keyboard you might be able to type Alt-1 through Alt-6 without lifting your left hand, meaning the 1 though 6 positions on the QAT are prime real estate for creating your own shortcuts.  I recommend that you reserve these slots for tasks you will use frequently and that have no better shortcut alternatives.

If you have a short-term project with intensive usage of a certain Excel task – say, wrapping text or merging and centering – you may want to place the shortcut for this command on the far left on a temporary basis.  In effect, you’ll have a temporary custom shortcut.  When the project is done, you can move it back to its “normal” position.   Don’t be afraid to modify the Quick Access Toolbar as needed to save you time.  It’s fast and easy.

Filed Under: Format Cells, Keyboard Shortcuts Tagged With: Excel Keyboard Shortcuts, Excel Shortcuts, Format Cells, Quick Access Toolbar - QAT

Excel Formatting Shortcuts

September 4, 2015 by terp Leave a Comment

The Basics Of Excel Formatting Shortcuts

Formatting is a common task in Excel.  So what are some good formatting shortcuts to increase your speed?

Excel-Formatting-Shortcuts

First, memorize these shortcuts for opening up the Format Cells dialog box (shown below):

Format Cells Dialog Box (keyboard): Ctrl+1

Format Cells Dialog Box (hybrid): Right Click+F*

(*Note: this won’t work if you have copied something into the clipboard since at that point “F” will activate the paste Formulas option instead).

format-cells-dialog-box-excel

You can switch between tabs in the dialog box with your mouse or by typing the first letter for tab (e.g., “F” for Font).

Second, there are some common formats with easy shortcuts:

Bold (keyboard): Ctrl+B –or– Ctrl+2

Italics (keyboard): Ctrl+I –or–Ctrl+3

Underline (keyboard): Ctrl+U –or– Ctrl+4

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Format Cells, Formatting, Paste Special Tagged With: Excel Shortcuts, Format Cells, Format Painter, Paste Formats, Paste Special, Quick Access Toolbar - QAT

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