If you're spending a lot of time modeling in Excel, you can save yourself time by learning some keyboard shortcuts. Much of the modeler's skills are about speed and accuracy, and by practicing these shortcuts until they become muscle memory, you'll be a more rapid and accurate modeler.
To find the shortcut for any function, press the Alt key and the shortcut keys will show the Ribbon. For example, to go to the Name Manager, press Alt+M+N, and the Name Manager dialog box appears.
Here's a list of the most useful shortcuts that should be part of your everyday keyboard use if you're a financial modeler:
| Editing | |
| Ctrl+S | Save workbook. |
| Ctrl+C | Copy. |
| Ctrl+V | Paste. |
| Ctrl+X | Cut. |
| Ctrl+Z | Undo. |
| Ctrl+Y | Redo. |
| Ctrl+A | Select all. |
| Ctrl+R | Copy the far left cell across the range. (You have to highlight range first.) |
| Ctrl+D | Copy the top cell down the range. (You have to highlight the range first.) |
| Ctrl+B | Bold. |
| Ctrl+1 | Format box. |
| Alt+Tab | Switch program. |
| Alt+F4 | Close program. |
| Ctrl+N | New workbook. |
| Shift+F11 | New worksheet. |
| Ctrl+W | Close worksheet. |
| Ctrl+E+L | Delete a sheet. |
| Ctrl+Tab | Switch workbooks. |
| Navigating | |
| Shift+Spacebar | Highlight row. |
| Ctrl+Spacebar | Highlight column. |
| Ctrl+– (hyphen) | Delete selected cells. |
| Arrow keys | Move to new cells. |
| Ctrl+Pg Up/Pg Down | Switch worksheets. |
| Ctrl+Arrow keys | Go to end of continuous range and select a cell. |
| Shift+Arrow keys | Select range. |
| Shift+Ctrl+Arrow keys | Select continuous range. |
| Home | Move to beginning of the line. |
| Ctrl+Home | Move to cell A1. |
| In Formulas | |
| F2 | Edit formula, showing precedent cells. |
| Alt+Enter | Start a new line in the same cell. |
| Shift+Arrow keys | Highlight within cells. |
| F4 | Change absolute referencing ("$"). |
| Esc | Cancel a cell entry. |
| ALT+= (equal sign) | Sum selected cells. |
| F9 | Recalculate all workbooks. |
| Ctrl+[ | Highlight precedent cells. |
| Ctrl+] | Highlight dependent cells. |
| F5+Enter | Go back to original cell. |
In the upper-left corner, you'll find the Quick Access Toolbar. You can change the shortcuts that appear on the Quick Access Toolbar by clicking the tiny arrow to the right of the toolbar and selecting what you want to add from the drop-down menu that appears. For example, if you add Paste Special to the Quick Access Toolbar, Paste Special can be accessed with the shortcut Alt+4. Note that this only works when the Quick Access Toolbar has been customized, and whatever you put in the fourth position will be accessed by the shortcut Alt+4.
