Learning the Basic Shortcuts

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Trying to memorize all these keyboard shortcuts isn't as hard as you may think. Windows applications all share the same keyboard combinations to execute common commands. Once you get accustomed to using some of these keyboard shortcuts in Excel, try them out on some of the other Office programs.

Working with Menus

You can make selections from the Excel menu without using the mouse. Perhaps you noticed the underlined letters on menus and commands. Those are selection letters and they allow you to work with menus and commands by using the following shortcuts.

To execute this command	Do this
Open a menu	Press Alt then the menu's selection letter
Select a menu command	Press the menu item's selection letter.
Close a menu or dialog box	Press Esc
Show a shortcut menu	Press Shift+F10

Getting Help

You don't need to wade through menus to get some help using the program. Try these useful keyboard shortcuts.

To execute this command	Do this
Use Help	Press the F1 key
Use the What's This? Button	Press Shift+F1

Working with Workbook Files

The following table shows you a few of the more common keyboard shortcuts that you may want to use when working with any type of Office file.

To execute this command	Do this
Create a new workbook	Press Ctrl+N
Open a different workbook	Press Ctrl+O
Switch between open workbooks	Press Ctrl+F6
Save a workbook	Press Ctrl+S
Use the Save As command	Press F12
Print a file	Press Ctrl+P
Close a file	Press Ctrl+W
Exit Excel	Press Alt+F4

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