Let’s say you have a simple formula in B5. The formula is C200*5. You forget what’s in C200, what the formula is there, but you need to know.
What’s a fast way to get to C200 and then back to B5?
Method 1 (very slow):
Scroll to C200 and then scroll back. Fugedaboutit. Too damned slow.
Method 2 (faster, but not the fastest):
Hit Ctrl+G (or F5), and then type C200 (and then Enter) to go to C200. Kind of slow. [Read more…]
A slow (but common) way to switch Excel workbooks is to hover over the Excel icon on the taskbar (see image below). Doing so will display thumbnails of all of your open Excel files. To go to one, just click on the thumbnail.
Ever have a massive spreadsheet that takes forever to navigate? Behold, I give you dragon-slaying, big-data-conquering Excel shortcuts that will save you massive amounts of time (and that’s not an exaggeration). When it comes to waging war with big data (moving around in big files with lots of data), keyboard shortcuts are indispensable — and far faster than using the mouse.
Hold on, we’ll get there right away. First, I highly recommend that you follow these four guidelines that will take maximum advantage of Excel’s data-grabbing shortcuts and sorting features:
Here are my favorite Excel Ctrl shortcuts — those I use most frequently, but in no particular order. They’re my fave’s because they’re so easy on the hands. Nine of the 12 can be executed with the left hand. For these nine, your right hand can remain comfortably on the mouse, relaxing in a hot tub. I’ll explain why I include the other three at the end of the post.
Cut, Copy & Paste
Ctrl+C: Copy (see more on Excel shortcuts for Save, Cut, Copy, Paste and Bold here)
Ctrl+V: Paste (see more on Excel shortcuts for Save, Cut, Copy, Paste and Bold here)
Ctrl+X: Cut (see more on Excel shortcuts for Save, Cut, Copy, Paste and Bold here)
Undo & Redo
Ctrl+Z: Undo
Ctrl+Y: Redo [Read more…]
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…]