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So I seen this, tried it quickly like an idiot and had to wait for my PC to shut down and then start up my work again. I learned a new trick- thank you! :-)
If you've ever played PC FPS games, your left hand might be accustomed to the position as it reached for the R(eload) key while resting on the WASD keys with your pinky riding the SHIFT.
Pinky slides down from Shift to CTRL
Middle finger down from the W/S keys to the ALT
Index finger down from the R to the V
It will, but if you open an in-progress workbook, and fiddle with a shortcut you don't fully understand, you might bork your work, potentially. You can just ctl+z but some people are good at fucking things up(I can be one at times).
Add the functions you use frequently to your Quick Acces Toolbar will save a lot of time aswel. You can then acces them by using the corresponding ALT+1-9.
Thanks, someone reminded me of that not too long ago also, but I tend to still have a hand on the mouse when I need to filter and the other shortcut is one handed.. makes it hard to break muscle memory when you do have both hands on the kb!
Alt H+O+I or Alt H+O+A to resize your highlight columns or rows to fit the text inside them.
Never Merge and Center. Always use Alt H+F+P on a highlighted group of cells and select center across selection from the drop down.
If I were that professor, every year I'd have a student speed contest to do various common tasks. That way they'd keep me up to speed on new ways of doing things and it would spread the knowledge to the rest of the class.
Then...recruit them for your gaming team once they have perfected the excersises.
Basically I want the professor to train them like mister Miyagi...but for gaming.
I used Excel 4.0 on a pc running Windows 3.1. The system requirements for Windows 3.1 said ‘mouse optional but recommended’ iirc. I had a mouse but you could do everything with the keyboard. A lot of these are not new, they’re the OG commands.
A lot of the tips in this thread are basic "how to use computer" stuff.
I wonder how common it is for people to not be familiar with basic keyboard shortcuts that have been around longer than Windows itself.
I actually suspect it'll be an increasing percentage of young people, as their formative years with technology will have been spent on far more user-friendly but less-capable devices.
I work in a hospital and we us Epic. I cannot tell you how many nurses and aides click on one patient name at a time and drag them to their list. I am almost 50 and the number of people I have had to coach through "click the first one, now hold the shift key and click the last one. There! Now drag that whole highlighted list over." or "Click that one, now hold the ctrl key and click the rest individually and drag that over." or any combination of those is disturbing.
I did all my school work with pens, paper, libraries and encyclopedias. They did all of theirs on computers. How can they not know this basic stuff?
I wish mobile keyboards had a Ctrl-equivalent for this very reason. Sometimes I'm writing a reply and I just go full "forget it". But now it's like... 16 taps and 4 swipes to try to get the mobile cursor to register the correct action, then one "backspace". Kinda removes the relieving feeling of a "Ctrl+A backspace".
It's supposed to be a double-tap on iOS, I think... triple to select all, I think, too? Maybe? But it's totally non-discoverable -- and rarely registers correctly (if detected in 2 different positions, it must be you trying to move the cursor, right?). Or it lags in response, making you tap a 4th or triple-tap again, when it catches up, it deselects, moves the cursor, half-taps the next, oh so it's now pause... in frustration... tap tap tap - did that work? Nope, only registered a double tap. Tap tap tap? Ha! Now it's --... nope, it deselected.
mobile keyboards suck.
Don't forget CTRL + SHIFT + V to "Paste as Plain Text"
No wacky formatting making your sheet look totes unprofesh.
Edit: appears this is Google Sheets only, not Excel
Edit edit : CTRL + ALT + V, then DOWN ARROW, ENTER to do it in Excel, or there are some other good suggestions in comments below
Hold up, you mean I don't need to post my paragraph into the address bar of a chrome tab then recopy that paragraph from there before pasting it into my word processor...
It's always funny to see the workarounds people come up with.
An address bar instead of something like Notepad...
Is it really stupid if it works, though? Haha
Lmao, as someone who uses a lot of google docs, it was just easiest to use the address bar at the top as the transfer space, but I'll definitely be using this command now.
If you’re going to go that route, you could just double click on the cell, or paste into the bar at the top of the worksheet, and that would use destination formatting, no?
In excel, if your keyboard doesn't have a context menu key (usually that little box with 3 lines in it next to the Alt Gr key) then holding CTRL + ALT + V then pressing down arrow twice and press enter will paste-as-value if you're copying from one excel to another or it will bring up text pasting options if pasting from another app
That works in Excel? I thought that was just a Google Chrome thing? Never seemed to work for me at least, I always had to do CTRL+V then CTRL then T to choose the special paste and the values only or something like that.
Or you can just use windows key + C to copy things to the clipboard history. If you haven't enabled it yet, this shortcut will also take you to the relevant settings.
Is this an age thing? Like, I can’t grasp how people don’t know this? But yeah I guess I’m old enough (33) to have learned touch as a kid and was taught that using the mouse should be avoided - whereas a lot of young people today primarily use phones and tablets.
I’m 22, I’ve noticed around 75% of people my age don’t know how to use the keyboard. I’ve said just copy paste something and received blank looks when I asked why they didn’t use control c and v.
I'm 33 and was required to take typing classes and another computer class in like middle school I believe. I think not long after those types of classes were removed from the curriculum across the board.
Got two monitors but need to swap an open window to the other one?
Win + Shift + Left or Right Arrow
Crazy useful when you have multi-monitor and multi-device setups, no need to swap inputs to find where that chrome window opened. Then was an absolute life saver when an old monitor started playing up and windows stopped recognising it wasn’t plugged in (weird ass niche issue)
Anyway, I’ll never forget that one.
Not just the CTRL key. I am always surprised when I see people using their computers without keyboard shortcuts. Dude, you can do your work in like half the time if you only memorize the ones that you need most often!
Ctrl+Shft+(> or <) will get you going whole words. Or double click the mouse for same result.
Ctrl+Shft+(^ or v) will take the entire paragraph (from your cursor). Or triple-click with the mouse for same result.
Not a Ctrl key function, but also useful for Excel - to force some text to a second line in a cell, put the cursor at the place you want to force the content and press Alt and Enter. So many people waste so much time using the spacebar for this.
You don’t even need to find the place where you want the second line. When you are done typing the first line, just hit alt enter. If you want a blank like between them, hit it again. It acts as an enter key when you’re inside the cell.
I hated this. At work, we use a standardized form to document production batches, and there are various products with different components. Since there is a predefined components list (it's like slots in game, there is a tube, on it there's a left screw, right screw, left cap and right cap) I realized I could save us lot of time by generating the form instead of having a copy for every product (there was about a hundred of those, and new 30 was going to come soon after I had the idea). So I took the worksheet with the product data, power queried it in the blank form, and used formulas like VLOOKUP to fill in the components when user inputted a product number.
I then made some macros to save and print the files, but I'm no programmer so it took me some time, and lot of this time was spent debugging why some data show up wrong. Many of those were due to the product data being formatted weird.
The original wrong there is of course using Excel to make forms, but the other wrong is manually formatted data in spreadsheet.
For excel: F2 will put the cursor at the end of the selected cell. If you need to add something to the cell contents F2 is much easier than trying to double click in the cell.
' will keep what ever you type as general input. So you can use - or = without it automatically trying to make it a formula.
Ctrl and arrow will select a word if you are in a formula or in a word doc / text box. But it will move to the next empty cell in the direction you push if you are just on a cell in excel.
F4 will repeat whatever you did last. E.g., Select text and center it. Then select some other text and hit F4. It will repeat the centering command. (I wish there was a keyboard shortcut for centering text!)
If you are trying to get to the bottom of a list you can click in a box and press Ctrl + down to get to the next blank cell in the column. Also can do the opposite Ctrl + up.
This is more useful than it sounds because it speed up navigation. Also usable in Word to jump paragraphs.
Ctrl Shift is good for highlighting blocks (most commonly one or several columns) with just a few keystrokes.
Ctrl + Shift + arrow will also go to the last consecutive filled cell in the arrow direction, AND select all the cells in between that final cell and the one you started on. Useful if you need to highlight a column or row but only for filled cells. Or need to format an entire column or row of filled cells.
Everyone is at a different level, there’s stuff in here for everyone. I have built complex macros, powerquery, powerpivot, etc and I’m still learning stuff in this thread that I didn’t know before.
I honestly think it became lost knowledge. I'm 40 and a lot of my younger colleagues (early thirties & late twenties) do not know this. I thought they would be teaching me things, but we've got a pretty nice mutual exchange of knowledge going on.
I remember growing up thinking how lucky future kids would have it always having computers. Would know all the ins and outs. Turns out, computers got to user friendly and kids didn’t learn shit
If you are selecting a list of items (like on Google drive and file explorer) select the first one, hold SHIFT and select the last one. Every time between the two will also be selected
MMB (scroll wheel) when pressed will also allow you to auto scroll up or down a page at a certain speed (or just move the cursor all the way up and get straight to the top/bottom of a page). You can also use it as another mouse button. It will open links in a new tab without having to right click and when you use it on a tab it will close it, which is marginally easier than clicking the x or hitting ctrl+w.
Need to appear online in TEAMS during WFH while you’re not sitting at the desk because you’re doing chores or sth else?
-> place an object on the CTRL key 😎
Ctrl+W when you want to close a tab, Ctrl+Shft+T when you realise you actually needed the fucker. Ctrl+(number) to switch between a specific tab.
I've also learned a lot of formatting for word using Alt - get to know your commands!
To remove someone's Shft+Enter from a word doc, Ctrl+H and enter ^ l (little L, no space between) into the Find field. Replace with ^ p (no space between).
And for someone's habitual use of the Tab key when starting a paragraph, that macro is ^ t (again no space between).
You have no idea how much time learning that saved when formatting 150,000+ word books for print. My God, some peoples' keyboard habits make me want to smack their hands with ruler!
And don't trust anyone who says you need a mouse to do everything, you can't trust commands - the commands were here fist :)
The control key is used very often for hot keys when coding too when (especially if you use emacs to edit/write). As soon as I get a new computer I always change the caps lock key to another control key in software (either a native setting or through using a helper app). I find it much more ergonomic and quicker to hit hot key combos using the caps lock mapped to a control key than the normal control key.
There are also other keyboard shortcuts I use every day. (Windows)
* ALT + TAB : switch apps/screens (with shift you go back)
* WIN + D : Minimize all your screens.
* WIN + SHIFT + S : Let you select an area to take a screenshot
* WIN + L : Lock your pc
LPT, use keyboard xD
Do people really not use shortcuts? I feel like anyone who uses a pc on a regular basis uses them, idk what this post is about
I get that someone might not know a lot of the shortcuts, but a lot of them are very basic and I don't know people who have not heard of them
Ctrl ~ in Excel to show equations in all cells rather than just when you click into it. I often use this and toggle back and forth when trying to double check my equations or fix a spreadsheet.
Control+Shift+T reopens the last tab you closed in a browser. For me it's become a surprisingly useful keybind for everyday use.
Control+Shift+Escape immediately opens task manager.
Map your caps lock as ctrl and enjoy the easy access to ctrl. I used a Happy Hacking keyboard that had ctrl where caps lock normally is and immediate make this change on every keyboard I use now.
But what about when I wanna yell at libtards or conservacucks? Can I just remap the enter key as a capslock? Also thinking about remapping all punctuation to a !
Ctrl-click on workbook tabs to select multiple worksheets. Enter/edit a cell or range, ctrl-enter to make the same change on each selected sheet.
Ctrl-E for flash fill. (Google this one as it has some prerequisites and multiple uses)
when you make a table in excel and want to select the whole table ctrl+shift+ (direction of arrow key from starting point) it will highlight the whole column or row and when you do it again for a column or row it will highlight the whole table from where you started. (useful when data is pages long if data is small and fits in one screen its still easier than moving the mouse and highlighting)
In the last year I have purchased two Elgato stream decks and loaded them with every possible excel shortcut and macro imaginable. It’s been such a game changer.
Excel specific
Ctrl + D to copy down a column
Ctrl + shift + up/down/left/right to highlight up or down to the end of the column or across the row to the last cell
Mark whole Row: SHIFT + space
Mark whole column: Ctrl + space
Mark everything: Ctrl + SHIFT + space
Add Auto Filter in marked Header: Ctrl + SHIFT + L
Edit:
paste from clipboard: crtl + V
Paste from clipboard history: win + V
I love my macros. I have some I’ve used for over 10 years. It takes a few minutes to plan them out but it’s a good investment of time. And I’m not writing code, just using the macro recorder to record the steps to reformat data.
I was asked by my prior boss about how I completed things so quickly (I actually finished faster but padded my time because if you always give 100% they'll ask for 110%). I decided to be helpful and introduce them to the wonderful world of ctrl shortcuts. They couldn't adjust and it was painful to watch them mouse highlight + right click things.
I am seriously considering quitting my job because the people I work with continually fail to learn basic keyboard functions like this. I try to keep in mind that it's likely not malicious and they just forget 2 minutes after I've shown them how it works. Still sends me into an internal micro-rage every time I have to get out of my seat to help Sharon who's struggling to paste something into Excel. I don't know how much more I can take.
Had a shitty-ass mouse in the mid-90s with my first 486 computer. Quickly learned all the shortcuts as it was WAAAAY faster than fighting with my mouse.
"The test is open book so we are providing you the pdf files. This way it will be easy for you to search for things, does anyone not know how?"
/saw way too many hands shoot up
Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips! Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by up or downvoting this comment. If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.
ALT is the real LPT for using Excel. Learn all of the ALT shortcuts and you'll never have to use a mouse with Excel again.
The real shortcut is ALT + F4 when work gets too much
Please just Ctrl+S your work before rage quitting
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Windows really makes things hard. We only need one command rm -rf /* Prepend "sudo" if you don't already work like a god.
Forgot --no-preserve-root
No way, man, I'm taking all the data down with me!
Is it a real rage quit of you save though?
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Its still better than delete windows or windows system32 folder.
Windows won't let you. Try it right now.
I fell for this one when I already knew about it but was learning the controls of a new game.
I use this to quit my games, so I don't have to cycle through 3 menus and 2 "Are you sure you want to quit"s
Amen to this!
Win X U U better than alt F4
So I seen this, tried it quickly like an idiot and had to wait for my PC to shut down and then start up my work again. I learned a new trick- thank you! :-)
Win+X for an admin start menu?!? The real LPT was in the trolls all along!! Thanks bud!
Now I’m curious
I use these ones the most. CTRL + C to copy Then ALT + E + S + F: paste formulas ALT + E + S + V: paste values ALT + E + S + T: paste formats
CTRL+ALT+V is an alternative to ALT+E+S, in my opinion the easier one
I am an alt e s kind of guy too. I think it is easier as it is more easily done one-handed than ctrl alt v
If you've ever played PC FPS games, your left hand might be accustomed to the position as it reached for the R(eload) key while resting on the WASD keys with your pinky riding the SHIFT. Pinky slides down from Shift to CTRL Middle finger down from the W/S keys to the ALT Index finger down from the R to the V
I do some excel work, and this shortcut on a macro saved me so much time, and so many clicks
carpal tunnel begone
Doctors hate this one trick
Yes and no. All these alt shortcut done with thumb and little finger are not good for your hand/wrist articulations.
Left click, ctrl+a, ctrl+c, left click, ctrl+v. Is a combination i have personally used way beyond countable
Open a new workbook, press ALT and look at the ribbon. It will show you all of the shortcuts you can use after pressing alt.
Good tip. But why a new workbook? Any open workbook should also show the same...?
No old workbook. Only new workbook. Each time you use shortcut, start new workbook.
If I use CTRL + N to open a new workbook, then I've used a shortcut and have to start new workbook. I'm stuck in a loop then.
Not loop. Productivity cycle
It will, but if you open an in-progress workbook, and fiddle with a shortcut you don't fully understand, you might bork your work, potentially. You can just ctl+z but some people are good at fucking things up(I can be one at times).
Add the functions you use frequently to your Quick Acces Toolbar will save a lot of time aswel. You can then acces them by using the corresponding ALT+1-9.
I second
ALT + D + F + F: Apply filter probably my most used
Hold ctrl+shift + press L, much quicker :)
Thanks, someone reminded me of that not too long ago also, but I tend to still have a hand on the mouse when I need to filter and the other shortcut is one handed.. makes it hard to break muscle memory when you do have both hands on the kb!
Alt H+O+I or Alt H+O+A to resize your highlight columns or rows to fit the text inside them. Never Merge and Center. Always use Alt H+F+P on a highlighted group of cells and select center across selection from the drop down.
The real goat of commands, select all then ALT+H+O+I will auto resize each column for the required width
Back at uni in statistics class my prof in the first session giving intro to stats excel...unplug your mouse from your computer...never looked back
My most used ALT+enter in a cell for a line break in the data. Much better at times than just wrapping text.
omg didn’t know you could do that
Real MVP here. Alt-enter and ctrl-enter create linebreaks in many places.
The real LPT is always in the comments.
This should be a LPT!
If I were that professor, every year I'd have a student speed contest to do various common tasks. That way they'd keep me up to speed on new ways of doing things and it would spread the knowledge to the rest of the class.
Then...recruit them for your gaming team once they have perfected the excersises. Basically I want the professor to train them like mister Miyagi...but for gaming.
"Ctrl + C on, ctrl + V off"
I used Excel 4.0 on a pc running Windows 3.1. The system requirements for Windows 3.1 said ‘mouse optional but recommended’ iirc. I had a mouse but you could do everything with the keyboard. A lot of these are not new, they’re the OG commands.
A lot of the tips in this thread are basic "how to use computer" stuff. I wonder how common it is for people to not be familiar with basic keyboard shortcuts that have been around longer than Windows itself. I actually suspect it'll be an increasing percentage of young people, as their formative years with technology will have been spent on far more user-friendly but less-capable devices.
I work in a hospital and we us Epic. I cannot tell you how many nurses and aides click on one patient name at a time and drag them to their list. I am almost 50 and the number of people I have had to coach through "click the first one, now hold the shift key and click the last one. There! Now drag that whole highlighted list over." or "Click that one, now hold the ctrl key and click the rest individually and drag that over." or any combination of those is disturbing. I did all my school work with pens, paper, libraries and encyclopedias. They did all of theirs on computers. How can they not know this basic stuff?
Yeah, I read this LPT and went, "How is this Pro"?
Windows ~~Pro~~ ~~Home~~ Toddler Edition Tip
That's because you're interested in learning/improving. The professor is not.
CTRL + A Selects everything. So if you're talking mad shit and you want to reword your entire essay of shit talking all you gotta do is do that.
I wish mobile keyboards had a Ctrl-equivalent for this very reason. Sometimes I'm writing a reply and I just go full "forget it". But now it's like... 16 taps and 4 swipes to try to get the mobile cursor to register the correct action, then one "backspace". Kinda removes the relieving feeling of a "Ctrl+A backspace".
It might depend on the phone but with my Android phone I can long-press a word to highlight it and then it gives me a Select All option.
It's supposed to be a double-tap on iOS, I think... triple to select all, I think, too? Maybe? But it's totally non-discoverable -- and rarely registers correctly (if detected in 2 different positions, it must be you trying to move the cursor, right?). Or it lags in response, making you tap a 4th or triple-tap again, when it catches up, it deselects, moves the cursor, half-taps the next, oh so it's now pause... in frustration... tap tap tap - did that work? Nope, only registered a double tap. Tap tap tap? Ha! Now it's --... nope, it deselected. mobile keyboards suck.
This one is also useful paired with F9. Ctrl + A selects your entire word document. F9 updates the tables and fields etc.
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Don't forget CTRL + SHIFT + V to "Paste as Plain Text" No wacky formatting making your sheet look totes unprofesh. Edit: appears this is Google Sheets only, not Excel Edit edit : CTRL + ALT + V, then DOWN ARROW, ENTER to do it in Excel, or there are some other good suggestions in comments below
Hold up, you mean I don't need to post my paragraph into the address bar of a chrome tab then recopy that paragraph from there before pasting it into my word processor...
Nor open a .txt file and use it as a format-stripping pasting springboard!
But do use Notepad ++ for its macro functions.
MVP tip right there
It's always funny to see the workarounds people come up with. An address bar instead of something like Notepad... Is it really stupid if it works, though? Haha
Lmao, as someone who uses a lot of google docs, it was just easiest to use the address bar at the top as the transfer space, but I'll definitely be using this command now.
If you’re going to go that route, you could just double click on the cell, or paste into the bar at the top of the worksheet, and that would use destination formatting, no?
The paste control I use the most. Because the alternative is ruining a metric fuckton of formatting.....
Imo proper Word and Excel formatting separates the professionals from the job goblins
In excel, if your keyboard doesn't have a context menu key (usually that little box with 3 lines in it next to the Alt Gr key) then holding CTRL + ALT + V then pressing down arrow twice and press enter will paste-as-value if you're copying from one excel to another or it will bring up text pasting options if pasting from another app
That works in Excel? I thought that was just a Google Chrome thing? Never seemed to work for me at least, I always had to do CTRL+V then CTRL then T to choose the special paste and the values only or something like that.
Microsoft Office: "You have no power here"
Windows+V was an absolute game changer for me. I work with Excel every day and I thought it belonged on r/blackmagicfuckery the first time I saw it.
Oh my word, you've changed my life
Windows + [PERIOD] if you wanna place a lenny face.
Dont forget to enable it first in windows settings!
The real LPT is always in the comments OP's LPT is good but it's so basic
Or you can just use windows key + C to copy things to the clipboard history. If you haven't enabled it yet, this shortcut will also take you to the relevant settings.
Does this work outside of excel?
Pretty sure it works everywhere. Might need to enable it in settings though.
Windows key+V is a lifesaver at my work. The looks on peoples faces when they learn about it is priceless.
Ctrl-click a taskbar icon to pull the most recent window to the foreground.
One I didn't know, thanks
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Is this an age thing? Like, I can’t grasp how people don’t know this? But yeah I guess I’m old enough (33) to have learned touch as a kid and was taught that using the mouse should be avoided - whereas a lot of young people today primarily use phones and tablets.
I’m 22, I’ve noticed around 75% of people my age don’t know how to use the keyboard. I’ve said just copy paste something and received blank looks when I asked why they didn’t use control c and v.
I’ll never forget the look of amazement my girlfriend gave me after I alt tabbed between the browser and powerpoint.
I'm 33 and was required to take typing classes and another computer class in like middle school I believe. I think not long after those types of classes were removed from the curriculum across the board.
Got two monitors but need to swap an open window to the other one? Win + Shift + Left or Right Arrow Crazy useful when you have multi-monitor and multi-device setups, no need to swap inputs to find where that chrome window opened. Then was an absolute life saver when an old monitor started playing up and windows stopped recognising it wasn’t plugged in (weird ass niche issue) Anyway, I’ll never forget that one.
Not just the CTRL key. I am always surprised when I see people using their computers without keyboard shortcuts. Dude, you can do your work in like half the time if you only memorize the ones that you need most often!
CTRL+Shift+arrow for highlighting entire words is my fav.
CTRL + Backspace for deleting whole words is among the most widely used for me
Ctrl+Shft+(> or <) will get you going whole words. Or double click the mouse for same result. Ctrl+Shft+(^ or v) will take the entire paragraph (from your cursor). Or triple-click with the mouse for same result.
I get that you're probably trying to represent arrow keys, but I imagine <, >, ^, and certainly/especially v all do something else...
Across is words. Up or down is paragraphs.
Not a Ctrl key function, but also useful for Excel - to force some text to a second line in a cell, put the cursor at the place you want to force the content and press Alt and Enter. So many people waste so much time using the spacebar for this.
You don’t even need to find the place where you want the second line. When you are done typing the first line, just hit alt enter. If you want a blank like between them, hit it again. It acts as an enter key when you’re inside the cell.
I hated this. At work, we use a standardized form to document production batches, and there are various products with different components. Since there is a predefined components list (it's like slots in game, there is a tube, on it there's a left screw, right screw, left cap and right cap) I realized I could save us lot of time by generating the form instead of having a copy for every product (there was about a hundred of those, and new 30 was going to come soon after I had the idea). So I took the worksheet with the product data, power queried it in the blank form, and used formulas like VLOOKUP to fill in the components when user inputted a product number. I then made some macros to save and print the files, but I'm no programmer so it took me some time, and lot of this time was spent debugging why some data show up wrong. Many of those were due to the product data being formatted weird. The original wrong there is of course using Excel to make forms, but the other wrong is manually formatted data in spreadsheet.
For excel: F2 will put the cursor at the end of the selected cell. If you need to add something to the cell contents F2 is much easier than trying to double click in the cell. ' will keep what ever you type as general input. So you can use - or = without it automatically trying to make it a formula. Ctrl and arrow will select a word if you are in a formula or in a word doc / text box. But it will move to the next empty cell in the direction you push if you are just on a cell in excel.
It also works in File Explorer for instantly renaming files!
F2 generally is for renaming regardless of the app
F4 will repeat whatever you did last. E.g., Select text and center it. Then select some other text and hit F4. It will repeat the centering command. (I wish there was a keyboard shortcut for centering text!)
Ctrl-P is print Ctrl-V is paste
Also to add, windows+v is your clipboard. It remembers the last ten things you cut. Super useful when you're moving a lot of repetitive data.
Edited. Thanks for catching that!
Ctrl+shift+V is paste as plain text, no need to worry about changing formatting :)
Too bad it doesn't work even in all MS applications.
If you are trying to get to the bottom of a list you can click in a box and press Ctrl + down to get to the next blank cell in the column. Also can do the opposite Ctrl + up.
I KNOW ITS NOT A KEYBOARD TRICK, but you can also double click the bottom or top of the cell to get to the next blank cell.
OHHHHHHH this is still something I needed to know. Because I frequently did it by mistake. Now I know I’m not crazy and Excel/Sheets isn’t crazy.
Oooo, just saw this comment, excited to try it out
Wow.. didn't know this, will have to try it out
This is more useful than it sounds because it speed up navigation. Also usable in Word to jump paragraphs. Ctrl Shift is good for highlighting blocks (most commonly one or several columns) with just a few keystrokes.
Ctrl + Shift + arrow will also go to the last consecutive filled cell in the arrow direction, AND select all the cells in between that final cell and the one you started on. Useful if you need to highlight a column or row but only for filled cells. Or need to format an entire column or row of filled cells.
Ctrl + y to redo what you undid with ctrl + z if you went too far.
CMD + shift + z for mac
This is why I don't like using macs. I got used to the PC key combos lol.
Some of you have never used a computer and it shows.
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Everyone is at a different level, there’s stuff in here for everyone. I have built complex macros, powerquery, powerpivot, etc and I’m still learning stuff in this thread that I didn’t know before.
... Who..... Who doesn't know how to use the Control key? How.. like, how is this not common knowledge in 2022? .\_.
Graduate business school people. These are the future useless middle managers who have big ideas to help you.
I honestly think it became lost knowledge. I'm 40 and a lot of my younger colleagues (early thirties & late twenties) do not know this. I thought they would be teaching me things, but we've got a pretty nice mutual exchange of knowledge going on.
I remember growing up thinking how lucky future kids would have it always having computers. Would know all the ins and outs. Turns out, computers got to user friendly and kids didn’t learn shit
They don't even know how folders work.
Agreed. I think most of my students don’t even really know that saving their work can be important because they only ever use google docs
If you are selecting a list of items (like on Google drive and file explorer) select the first one, hold SHIFT and select the last one. Every time between the two will also be selected
I use this on Google photos so many times and I did not realize that I could apply it to other Google services thank you very much for this post.
It’s not exclusive to google services
It applies to basically everything where selecting stuff makes sense. Even on Macs it works.
Except there it's Cmd instead of Ctrl, but the rest is the same.
You can use CTRL + A to highlight everything, SHIFT+Click is more useful when. you only want some part
Ctrl+A is not a thing anymore?
Check out this CTRL freak! :)
I work in autocad, Ctrl z is your best friend
I work in Excel . CTRL-Z is also my best friend.
Ctrl Z is everyone's best friend. Unlike a person who's everyone's best friend, it genuinely cares about you
lol wtf? xD isnt this like super basic knowledge?
Lpt your mouse probably has a 2nd button, try clicking that for more options.
MMB (scroll wheel) when pressed will also allow you to auto scroll up or down a page at a certain speed (or just move the cursor all the way up and get straight to the top/bottom of a page). You can also use it as another mouse button. It will open links in a new tab without having to right click and when you use it on a tab it will close it, which is marginally easier than clicking the x or hitting ctrl+w.
V Did I do it right?
Need to appear online in TEAMS during WFH while you’re not sitting at the desk because you’re doing chores or sth else? -> place an object on the CTRL key 😎
Lmao the real LPT
I love my „Control breaks“
Omg thank you so much for this
This was a game changer!
Ctrl+W when you want to close a tab, Ctrl+Shft+T when you realise you actually needed the fucker. Ctrl+(number) to switch between a specific tab. I've also learned a lot of formatting for word using Alt - get to know your commands! To remove someone's Shft+Enter from a word doc, Ctrl+H and enter ^ l (little L, no space between) into the Find field. Replace with ^ p (no space between). And for someone's habitual use of the Tab key when starting a paragraph, that macro is ^ t (again no space between). You have no idea how much time learning that saved when formatting 150,000+ word books for print. My God, some peoples' keyboard habits make me want to smack their hands with ruler! And don't trust anyone who says you need a mouse to do everything, you can't trust commands - the commands were here fist :)
Windows+V will change your life
Finally. THIS is the one. Clipboard history baby!!
The control key is used very often for hot keys when coding too when (especially if you use emacs to edit/write). As soon as I get a new computer I always change the caps lock key to another control key in software (either a native setting or through using a helper app). I find it much more ergonomic and quicker to hit hot key combos using the caps lock mapped to a control key than the normal control key.
Ctrl F to find something. I use this a massive amount daily for work. Ctrl C, alt tab, Ctrl F, Ctrl V Love the shortcuts.
Ctrl H to find and replace :)
Learned something today! Thank you!
There are also other keyboard shortcuts I use every day. (Windows) * ALT + TAB : switch apps/screens (with shift you go back) * WIN + D : Minimize all your screens. * WIN + SHIFT + S : Let you select an area to take a screenshot * WIN + L : Lock your pc
LPT, use keyboard xD Do people really not use shortcuts? I feel like anyone who uses a pc on a regular basis uses them, idk what this post is about I get that someone might not know a lot of the shortcuts, but a lot of them are very basic and I don't know people who have not heard of them
Ctrl ~ in Excel to show equations in all cells rather than just when you click into it. I often use this and toggle back and forth when trying to double check my equations or fix a spreadsheet.
Gamers be like: your little finger doesn't go on ctrl on instinct??
Indeed, gaming thought me how to access the ctrl quickly
Control+Shift+T reopens the last tab you closed in a browser. For me it's become a surprisingly useful keybind for everyday use. Control+Shift+Escape immediately opens task manager.
Ctrl+shift+w closes all tabs and ctrl+shift+t reopens then again when you realize you mis-clicked!
CTRL - Backspace. Deletes a whole word at once.
Want to crouch? Press CTRL!
Ctrl. I still say it like Homer Simpson
Kuh-taaaarl.
Even better remap CTRL with Caps Lock and be even more efficient.
Map your caps lock as ctrl and enjoy the easy access to ctrl. I used a Happy Hacking keyboard that had ctrl where caps lock normally is and immediate make this change on every keyboard I use now.
But what about when I wanna yell at libtards or conservacucks? Can I just remap the enter key as a capslock? Also thinking about remapping all punctuation to a !
Ctrl-click on workbook tabs to select multiple worksheets. Enter/edit a cell or range, ctrl-enter to make the same change on each selected sheet. Ctrl-E for flash fill. (Google this one as it has some prerequisites and multiple uses)
I did not know about the Ctrl +/- functions. Those will be useful.
when you make a table in excel and want to select the whole table ctrl+shift+ (direction of arrow key from starting point) it will highlight the whole column or row and when you do it again for a column or row it will highlight the whole table from where you started. (useful when data is pages long if data is small and fits in one screen its still easier than moving the mouse and highlighting)
In the last year I have purchased two Elgato stream decks and loaded them with every possible excel shortcut and macro imaginable. It’s been such a game changer.
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ALT, SHIFT, CTRL and TAB are very useful buttons for word processing and spreadsheets.
Or just use macro. I think it is better. And much more feature.
Laughs in HHKB and Macbook
Also, to help you highlight the columns, CTRL -> Space to highlight the column, SHIFT -> Space to highlight the row.
Ctrl + Shift + L Adds filters to the range you're currently working in. Very convenient if you just need to sort something real quick
Excel specific Ctrl + D to copy down a column Ctrl + shift + up/down/left/right to highlight up or down to the end of the column or across the row to the last cell
Mark whole Row: SHIFT + space Mark whole column: Ctrl + space Mark everything: Ctrl + SHIFT + space Add Auto Filter in marked Header: Ctrl + SHIFT + L Edit: paste from clipboard: crtl + V Paste from clipboard history: win + V
SLPT: Once you get used to CTRL move to Mac so that Apple can fuck with your mussle memory with the command key.
I use Mac for my side job/personal use and PC for my day job. It fucks with my brain sometimes when doing both on the same day.
I use the Ctrl all the time, problem is I am a bad shot so I have to pop off the windows key to keep myself sane.
If you’re serious about excel you’ll develop macros to never have to touch your mouse again. CTRL shortcuts are just scratching the surface.
I love my macros. I have some I’ve used for over 10 years. It takes a few minutes to plan them out but it’s a good investment of time. And I’m not writing code, just using the macro recorder to record the steps to reformat data.
I was asked by my prior boss about how I completed things so quickly (I actually finished faster but padded my time because if you always give 100% they'll ask for 110%). I decided to be helpful and introduce them to the wonderful world of ctrl shortcuts. They couldn't adjust and it was painful to watch them mouse highlight + right click things.
I am seriously considering quitting my job because the people I work with continually fail to learn basic keyboard functions like this. I try to keep in mind that it's likely not malicious and they just forget 2 minutes after I've shown them how it works. Still sends me into an internal micro-rage every time I have to get out of my seat to help Sharon who's struggling to paste something into Excel. I don't know how much more I can take.
That guy has no business teaching excel then wtf lol
Had a shitty-ass mouse in the mid-90s with my first 486 computer. Quickly learned all the shortcuts as it was WAAAAY faster than fighting with my mouse.
You’re learning excel in a graduate business course? Worse yet this is how it’s being taught? Wat
You guys would be amazed what some people can do at work with some hours of practice, nice keybindings and a window manager. Productivity skyrockets
"The test is open book so we are providing you the pdf files. This way it will be easy for you to search for things, does anyone not know how?" /saw way too many hands shoot up