Keyboard Shortcut Keys in Excel
A comprehensive guide to Excel keyboard shortcuts to help you work faster and more efficiently.
There are many shortcut keystrokes in Microsoft Excel. It may not be easy to memorize all of them but you will gain much efficiency by just memorizing a few of them.
The below shortcut keystrokes are the most useful:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| CTRL+C | Copy |
| CTRL+X | Cut |
| CTRL+V | Paste |
| CTRL+Z | Undo |
| CTRL+F | Find |
| CTRL+H | Find and Replace |
The key to gaining efficiency with shortcut keys is to use just one hand (your left hand) to press the shortcut while using your right hand on the mouse. Use your pinkie to press the CTRL key and your other fingers to press the remaining key. It may take some time to get used to, but you will be richly rewarded after you master the skill.
HOME and END Keys
HOME takes you to the very beginning of the row. CTRL+HOME goes to cell A1 in Excel.
END works differently — you press END first, release it, then press an arrow key. It moves to the boundary between a filled and empty cell in that direction.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| END + ← | Go to the first cell with data/formula/empty space in the row |
| END + → | Go to the last cell with data/formula/empty space in the row |
| END + ↑ | Go to the first cell with data/formula/empty space in the column |
| END + ↓ | Go to the last cell with data/formula/empty space in the column |
Note: Press END and release it before pressing the arrow key — do not hold them simultaneously.
Selecting a range with END: Hold SHIFT, press END, then press ↓. This highlights all cells from your current position to the last filled cell in the column — no mouse required.
Once you get used to using END + arrows with SHIFT, you can highlight large data ranges entirely from the keyboard, which saves significant time on large spreadsheets.