Excel Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet (Windows & Mac)

Keyboard shortcuts are the fastest way to work in Microsoft Excel — no reaching for the mouse, no hunting through ribbons. This cheat sheet collects the shortcuts you’ll actually use, grouped by task, with keys for both Windows and Mac. As a general rule, where Windows uses Ctrl, the Mac uses ⌘ (Command) — so Ctrl + C on Windows becomes ⌘ + C on Mac. A few shortcuts break that rule (for example, some still use Ctrl on the Mac); those are called out in the tables below.

The essentials

Action	Windows	Mac
Copy	Ctrl + C	⌘ + C
Cut	Ctrl + X	⌘ + X
Paste	Ctrl + V	⌘ + V
Paste special	Ctrl + Alt + V	⌘ + Ctrl + V
Undo	Ctrl + Z	⌘ + Z
Redo	Ctrl + Y	⌘ + Y
Save	Ctrl + S	⌘ + S
Save As	F12	⌘ + Shift + S
Print	Ctrl + P	⌘ + P
Find	Ctrl + F	⌘ + F
Find & Replace	Ctrl + H	Control + H

Moving around

Action	Windows	Mac
Move one cell	↑ ↓ ← →	↑ ↓ ← →
Move to edge of data region	Ctrl + Arrow	⌘ + Arrow
Go to A1 / start of sheet	Ctrl + Home	⌘ + Fn + ←
Go to last used cell	Ctrl + End	⌘ + Fn + →
Move one screen up	Page Up	Fn + ↑
Move one screen down	Page Down	Fn + ↓
Next worksheet	Ctrl + Page Down	⌘ + Fn + ↓
Previous worksheet	Ctrl + Page Up	⌘ + Fn + ↑

Selecting cells

Action	Windows	Mac
Extend selection one cell	Shift + Arrow	Shift + Arrow
Extend selection to edge of data	Ctrl + Shift + Arrow	⌘ + Shift + Arrow
Select entire column	Ctrl + Space	Ctrl + Space
Select entire row	Shift + Space	Shift + Space
Select whole sheet	Ctrl + A	⌘ + A

Editing & entering data

Action	Windows	Mac
Edit active cell	F2	Ctrl + U
Confirm entry	Enter	Return
Confirm and move right	Tab	Tab
New line within a cell	Alt + Enter	Ctrl + Option + Return
Insert today’s date	Ctrl + ;	Ctrl + ;
Insert current time	Ctrl + Shift + ;	⌘ + ;
Fill down	Ctrl + D	⌘ + D
Fill right	Ctrl + R	⌘ + R
Delete cell contents	Delete	Delete

Formatting

Action	Windows	Mac
Bold	Ctrl + B	⌘ + B
Italic	Ctrl + I	⌘ + I
Underline	Ctrl + U	⌘ + U
Open Format Cells	Ctrl + 1	⌘ + 1
Apply percentage format	Ctrl + Shift + %	⌘ + Shift + %
Apply currency format	Ctrl + Shift + $	⌘ + Shift + $
Apply number format	Ctrl + Shift + !	⌘ + Shift + !
Strikethrough	Ctrl + 5	⌘ + Shift + X

Rows, columns & cells

Action	Windows	Mac
Insert cells / rows / columns	Ctrl + Shift + +	⌘ + Shift + +
Delete cells / rows / columns	Ctrl + -	⌘ + -
Group rows or columns	Alt + Shift + →	⌘ + Shift + K
Hide column	Ctrl + 0	⌘ + 0
Hide row	Ctrl + 9	⌘ + 9

Formulas & functions

Action	Windows	Mac
Start a formula	=	=
AutoSum	Alt + =	⌘ + Shift + T
Toggle absolute / relative reference	F4	⌘ + T
Recalculate all	F9	F9
Show / hide all formulas	Ctrl + `	Ctrl + `

Workbooks & worksheets

Action	Windows	Mac
New workbook	Ctrl + N	⌘ + N
Open	Ctrl + O	⌘ + O
Save	Ctrl + S	⌘ + S
Close	Ctrl + W	⌘ + W
Insert new worksheet	Shift + F11	Shift + F11

Tips

• Hold the whole key combination down at once (for example, press and hold Ctrl, then tap C) rather than pressing the keys one after another.
• On many Mac laptops the function keys (F2, F4, F9, etc.) need to be combined with the Fn key, or you can change this default in System Settings.
• Most of these shortcuts also work in Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc with only small differences, so the muscle memory you build here carries over to other spreadsheet apps.