Microsoft Excel Tips and Tutorials

If you have a list of say 1000 items and you want to get to the bottom of it you would usually need to use the scroll bar or press the down cursor key and get finger ache!  Well providing you click somewhere within the list you can use ctrl and the down cursor key.  This will move you directly to the end of that particular list.  In the same way ctrl and up / left / right works.

Also if you combine this method by pressing shift at the same time it will move to the end of the list and also select the cells between where you started out from and the end.

To add or edit a comment click on the cell you want to add the comment to and press shift and F5.  This will allow you to add a new comment or edit an existing comment.

You can run a line through all the contents of a cell giving a clue that the item is complete of finished E.G.:

John
Dave
Sarah
Chuck

Normally this is a fiddly affair requiring many mouse clicks.  To do this quickly simply select the cell or cells you want to add the strike through to and press ctrl and 5.  This action toggles the strike through on and off.

To make the inner workings of your spreadsheet more visible you can display ALL the formulas instead of their results with a simple shortcut.  Press ctrl and ` - this will toggle between showing formula results and the formula itself.

Click within a list or range of data you have entered to the spreadsheet and press ctrl and a.  This will select the whole range of data automatically without the need for fiddly dragging.

Drag over the first part of the range you want to select.  Then press and hold the ctrl key on your keyboard and keep it pressed whilst you select the other parts of the range you want to highlight.  You will notice that whilst the ctrl key is selected you are able to select any cells within the spreadsheet even if they are not next to each other.

You can move between open excel workbooks quickly using the keyboard shortcut ctrl and tab.  This action will move you from one workbook to another without the need to use your mouse.