Shortcut #11

Flash Fill
Flash Fill is one of the most impressive tools in Excel for cleaning and fixing data with
simple issues.

Suppose we wish to create email addresses for all the sales representatives in this list.

Click in an empty cell on the first sales reps row and type their email address and
press ENTER.

After you press the ENTER key, immediately press

CTRL-E
Flash Fill looks for patterns in your example and repeats those patterns for the
remainder of the list.

Shortcut #12
Select Entire Row
To select/highlight an entire row, press

Shift-Space
 Shortcut #13
Select Entire Column
To select/highlight an entire column, press

CTRL-Space
 Shortcut #14
Insert a New Cell/Row/Column
To insert a new row or column, click where you wish to perform the insertion and press

CTRL-+ (plus sign)

This will bring up the Insert dialog box.

NOTE: This MUST be the “plus sign” on the numeric keypad. If you use the “plus
sign” key located along the top row, you will need to add the “Shift” key to the
key sequence (i.e. CTRL-Shift-+).

To streamline this process, let pair this with Shortcuts #12 and #13.

To insert a new column, click in the desired cell and press

CTRL-Space
CTRL-+

To insert a new row, click in the desired cell and press

Shift-Space
CTRL-+

Cool Tip: If you select multiple rows or columns and execute a CTRL-+ action, you can
insert multiple rows or columns in a single keystroke. Give it a try; it’s REALLY cool!!!

Shortcut #15
Delete a Cell/Row/Column
Using the same techniques noted in Shortcut #14, we will substitute the “plus sigh” with
the “minus sign”.

CTRL- – (CTRL and the minus key)

This will give us the ability to delete a column or row.

Don’t forget the previous tip where you select multiple rows or columns and then press
CTRL- -.

Shortcut #16
Drag a Cell/Row and Paste in Between
Rows
If you wish to drag an entire row of data and place it between two other existing rows of
data, select the row to be moved and press

Shift-Space

…to select the row; then click-and-hold the border of the highlighted row.

The trick is to hold down the SHIFT key while you drag the row to its new position in the
sheet.
 Shortcut #17
Hide Columns
To hide an entire column, select a cell in the desired column and press

CTRL-0 (zero)

Shortcut #18
Hide Rows
To hide an entire row, select a cell on the desired row and press

CTRL-9 (nine)

Shortcut #19
Select Visible Cells
If you are curious as to whether rows or columns have been hidden in your sheet, press

ALT-; (semi-colon)

This will select the visible cells. The byproduct of this action is that hidden rows and
columns will have a visible line identifying their position.
If there is no visible break indicator, then no rows or columns are hidden.

Shortcut #20
Add Date/Time Stamp
If you wish to add a date stamp of the current date, select a cell and press

CTRL-; (semi-colon)

If you wish to add a time stamp of the current time, select a cell and press

CTRL-Shift-: (colon)

You can add a date/time stamp by selecting a cell and pressing

 CTRL-; (add a space or two) CTRL-Shift-:

Bonus Shortcut
Select Cells with Values
If you have a file and you suspect that some of the cells containing formulas have been
replaced with statically typed values, or you simply wish to identify any and all cells
containing typed values, press

F5 then ALT-S-O-X

Pick 3 and Practice

It will take time to commit all these shortcuts to memory, so for the time being, pick
three of the shortcuts that you think will save you the most time. Practice those three
until they become automatic in nature.

Once you have those three mastered, pick three more and repeat the process.

Before long, you will use these shortcuts without even the slightest thought.