Excel Shortcuts
Below is a cheat sheet of the most important Excel shortcuts to be familiar with for careers in corporate finance and accounting.
Below is a cheat sheet of the most important Excel shortcuts to be familiar with for careers in corporate finance and accounting.
To be more productive, faster, and more efficient when building financial models or performing financial analysis it’s important to know the main keyboard shortcuts in Excel. These are critical for careers in investment banking, equity research, FP&A, finance, accounting, and more.
The first thing you’ll do if you’re hired as an investment banking analyst is take a series of intense Excel training courses. Your mouse will be taken away and you’ll be expected to learn financial modeling with only keyboard shortcuts. If you follow our tips and tricks below you’ll be able to master theses shortcuts on Windows or Mac operating systems.
It may seem slower at first if you’re use to the mouse, but it’s worth the investment to take the time and learn these important shortcuts. We have provided the top time saving shortcuts for both PCs and Macs below. To master these skills, check out our Free Excel Crash Course.
You may also want to check out our section on other Excel formulas or the Excel formulas cheat sheet. Excel is quite robust, meaning there is a lot of different tools that can be utilized within it, and therefore many skills one can practice and hone.
F2 Edit active cell
F3 Paste name into a formula
F4 Toggle references
ALT + ENTER Start a new line within the same cell
SHIFT + F2 Insert or edit cell comment
SHIFT + F10 Display short cut menu (i.e. same as right click)
SHIFT + F11 Insert worksheet
CTRL + F3 Define a name for a cell
CTRL + D Fill down (e.g. copy formula down in selected cells)
CTRL + R Fill right
CTRL + SHIFT + A Insert argument names and parentheses for a function after typing a function name in a formula
ALT, I, R Insert row
ALT, I, C Insert column
CTRL + 1 Brings up format cells menu
CTRL + B Bold
CTRL + I Italic
CTRL + C Copy
CTRL + V Paste
ALT, E, S Paste special
CTRL + X Cut
CTRL + Z Undo
CTRL + Y Repeat last action
CTRL + A Select all used cells (select entire worksheet if command is repeated)
F5 Goto
SHIFT + ARROW Select the adjacent cell
SHIFT + SPACEBAR Select entire row
CTRL + SPACEBAR Select entire column
CTRL + SHIFT + HOME Select all to the start of the sheet
CTRL + SHIFT + END Select all to the last used cell of the sheet
CTRL + SHIFT + ARROW Select to the end of the last used cell in row/column
CTRL + ARROW Select the last used cell in row/column
CTRL + PAGE UP/DOWN Move to the next or previous worksheet (Move between tabs if you are in a menu window)
CTRL + TAB Move to next workbook (while in spreadsheet) Move to next divider (when in menu options)
TAB Move to the next cell (Move between items within a menu window)
CTRL+ ; Enter date
CTRL + : Enter time
CTRL + ` Show formula/show values (key to the left of 1)
CTRL + ] Select cells which refer to the active cell (useful before deleting a cell in a worksheet)
ALT Drives menu bar
ALT + TAB Next open program
ALT + = Autosum
CTRL + U Edit active cell
⌘ + T Toggle references
CTRL + OPTION + ENTER Start a new line within the same cell
SHIFT + F2 Insert or edit cell comment
SHIFT + F10 Display short cut menu
SHIFT + F11 Insert worksheet
CTRL + F3 Define a name
CTRL + D Fill down (e.g. copy formula down in selected cells)
CTRL + R Fill right
CTRL + SHIFT + A Insert argument names and parentheses for a function after typing a function name in a formula
⌘ + 1 Brings up format cells menu
⌘ + B Bold
⌘ + I Italic
⌘ + C Copy
⌘ + V Paste
⌘ + SHIFT + V Paste special
⌘ + X Cut
⌘ + Z Undo
⌘ + Y Repeat last action
⌘ + A Select all used cells (select entire worksheet if command is repeated)
FF5 / CTRL + G Goto
SHIFT + ARROW Select the adjacent cell
SHIFT + SPACEBAR Select entire row
CTRL + SPACEBAR Select entire column
CTRL + SHIFT + HOME Select all to the start of the sheet
CTRL + SHIFT + END Select all to the last used cell of the sheet
CTRL + SHIFT + ARROW Select to the end of the last used cell in row/column
CTRL + ARROW Select the last used cell in row/column
CTRL + PAGE UP/DOWN Move to the next or previous worksheet (Move between tabs if you are in a menu window)
CTRL + TAB Move to next workbook or window
TAB Move to the next cell (Move between items within a menu window)
CTRL+ ; Enter date
CTRL + : Enter time
CTRL + ` Show formula / show values (key to the left of 1)
CTRL + ] Select cells which refer to the active cell (useful before deleting a cell in a worksheet)
⌘ + TAB Next open program
⌘ + SHIFT + T Insert auto sum formula