the MOST

In Excel 2003 and earlier versions, when I tried to select a large block of data using my mouse, I would often overshoot, and accidentally select more rows than I meant to.  Then I would go back, and select too few.  I often had the same problem scrolling within a spreadsheet.  I would go too fast, right past the end of my data.  When I would move the scroll bar more slowly in a large set of data, finding the end of my data could take a frustrating amount of time.

To alleviate this, I started using keyboard shortcuts.  I do have to give credit to Excel 2007, which has made it easier to select your data by pausing when you get to the end of a range of data.  But I still find the keyboard shortcuts I started using in earlier versions faster and easier.

Navigation Keyboard Shortcuts

• Enter - move down one cell
• Shift + Enter - move one cell up
• Tab - move one cell to the right
• Shift + Tab - move one cell to the left
• Arrow - move one cell in the direction of the arrow
• Ctrl + Down arrow - move to the bottom row of your continuous data
• Ctrl + Up arrow - move to the top row of your continuous data
• Ctrl + Left arrow - move to the furthest left column of your continuous data
• Ctrl + Right arrow - move to the furthest right column of your continuous data
• Ctrl + End - move to your last active cell
• Ctrl + Home - move to cell A1 (or the first visible cell, if some columns or rows are hidden)
• Ctrl + Page Down - move one worksheet to the right
• Ctrl + Page Up - move one worksheet to the left
• Home - move to the beginning of a row

Selection Keyboard Shortcuts

If you hold down the Shift key, you can use the arrow keys to select cells.  For example, if you are in cell A1, and you hold down Shift and press the down arrow, cells A1 and A2 will be selected.  If you combine the shift key with the navigation shortcuts at the top, you will be able to select the range of cells you just moved through.

• Ctrl + Shift + Arrow - select a range in the direction of the arrow you pressed.
• Shift + Space bar - select a row
• Ctrl + Space - select a column
• Ctrl + A - select an entire worksheet
• Ctrl + Shift + * - select an entire data range

These are only navigation and selection keyboard shortcuts in Excel.  For even more Excel keyboard shortcuts, go to http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HP052037811033.aspx.  These shortcuts are for Excel 2003, but almost all of them will work in Excel 2007.  Excel 2007 also has a new feature called key tips.  To learn about key tips, read our Key Tips and Keyboard Shortcuts post.