Essentials shortcuts in Excel
These are the keys you press dozens of times a day. Most are the same on both platforms, with Cmd in place of Ctrl on a Mac. The ones worth learning first are Find and replace and Go To, because they replace a lot of scrolling.
Checked against Microsoft's official lists on . Where Microsoft lists a key for one platform only, the other column says so instead of guessing.
Learn these first
| Shortcut | Windows | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Find and replace How to: Find and replace shortcut in Excel | Ctrl+H | Control+H or Command+Shift+H |
| Go to a cell or range (Go To) How to: Shortcut to select visible cells only in Excel Type a reference such as B14 or a range name, then press Enter. | Ctrl+G or F5 | Control+G or F5 |
| Repeat the last action, such as inserting a row or applying a format How to: Undo, redo and repeat shortcuts in Excel Microsoft's Mac list has no Repeat key: Cmd+Y is Redo there. Inside a formula, F4 switches $ signs instead. | F4 or Ctrl+Y | —No Mac shortcut in Microsoft's list |
| Open the right-click (context) menu | Shift+F10 or Menu key | Shift+F10 |
Step-by-step shortcut guides
All essentials shortcuts
| Shortcut | Windows | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Copy the selection | Ctrl+C | Command+C or Control+C |
| Cut the selection | Ctrl+X | Command+X or Control+X or Shift+Forward Delete |
| Paste | Ctrl+V | Command+V or Control+V |
| Undo the last action How to: Undo, redo and repeat shortcuts in Excel | Ctrl+Z | Command+Z or Control+Z |
| Redo How to: Undo, redo and repeat shortcuts in Excel On Windows, Ctrl+Y repeats your last action when there is nothing to redo. | Ctrl+Y | Command+Y or Control+Y or Command+Shift+Z |
| Repeat the last action, such as inserting a row or applying a format How to: Undo, redo and repeat shortcuts in Excel Microsoft's Mac list has no Repeat key: Cmd+Y is Redo there. Inside a formula, F4 switches $ signs instead. | F4 or Ctrl+Y | —No Mac shortcut in Microsoft's list |
| Save the workbook | Ctrl+S | Command+S or Control+S |
| Open a workbookIn a browser, Ctrl+O belongs to the browser, not Excel for the web. | Ctrl+O | Command+O or Control+O or Command+F12 |
| Create a new blank workbook | Ctrl+N | Command+N or Control+N |
| Close the workbook windowIn a browser, Ctrl+W closes the browser tab. | Ctrl+W or Ctrl+F4 | Command+W or Control+W |
| Print or preview the workbook | Ctrl+P | Command+P or Control+P |
| Find How to: Find and replace shortcut in Excel On a Mac, Cmd+F jumps to the search box instead of opening the Find dialog. | Ctrl+FWeb Ctrl+F or Shift+F3 | Control+F or Shift+F5 |
| Search the sheet from the search box How to: Find and replace shortcut in Excel Windows uses Ctrl+F and the Find dialog. | —No Windows shortcut in Microsoft's list | Command+F |
| Repeat the last Find, downwardMicrosoft lists this for Excel for the web only. | —No Windows shortcut in Microsoft's listWeb Shift+F4 | —No Mac shortcut in Microsoft's list |
| Repeat the last Find, upwardMicrosoft lists this for Excel for the web only. | —No Windows shortcut in Microsoft's listWeb Ctrl+Shift+F4 | —No Mac shortcut in Microsoft's list |
| Find and replace How to: Find and replace shortcut in Excel | Ctrl+H | Control+H or Command+Shift+H |
| Go to a cell or range (Go To) How to: Shortcut to select visible cells only in Excel Type a reference such as B14 or a range name, then press Enter. | Ctrl+G or F5 | Control+G or F5 |
| Clear the cell contents (keeps formatting) How to: Clear formatting shortcut in Excel Removes values and formulas only. Formats, notes and comments stay. | Delete | Delete |
| Open the right-click (context) menu | Shift+F10 or Menu key | Shift+F10 |
Why a shortcut sometimes does nothing
Excel for the web: the browser takes some keys
In a browser, a few keys belong to the browser first: F1 opens the browser's help, Ctrl+O opens a file, Ctrl+W closes the tab, and F6 moves around the browser. Excel for the web uses Ctrl+F6 instead of F6, Ctrl+Alt+Page Down for the next sheet in Chrome, and Alt+Windows key with a letter for ribbon tabs. To get desktop behavior back, go to Help > Keyboard Shortcuts and select Override browser shortcuts. If the file opened in Viewing mode, editing shortcuts do nothing until you switch to Editing.
Another program took the shortcut
Some background apps, such as screen recorders, graphics-driver tools and clipboard managers, register global hotkeys. If one shortcut stopped working everywhere at once, close those apps one at a time to find the culprit. Starting Excel in Safe Mode (hold Ctrl while it opens on Windows) also tells you whether an Excel add-in is the cause.
You are still editing a cell
While a cell is in edit mode, most commands are greyed out and many shortcuts type into the cell instead. Press Enter to finish the entry or Esc to cancel it, then try again.
Related guides
- Excel keyboard shortcuts for beginnersStart with five: Ctrl+Arrow to jump to the end of your data, Ctrl+Shift+Arrow to select it, F2 to edit a cell, Alt+= for AutoSum and Ctrl+Z to undo.
- How to replace text in Excel with a formulaUse =SUBSTITUTE(A2,"old","new").
- How to remove spaces in Excel (extra or all spaces)Use =TRIM(A2) to remove leading and trailing spaces and shrink double spaces between words to one.