16 Most Used Excel Formatting ShortcutsExtensive How To Guide!
Many people spend a considerable amount of time formatting Excel spreadsheets and wondering if there might be a quicker way to do it.
Fortunately, in some cases, there are and in this article we are going to review 16 of the Most Widely used Excel Shortcuts and show you how to Format them.
Excel has many built-in shortcuts you can use to save time when formatting your spreadsheets.
Let’s get started!
Changing Font Size
If you would like to change font size quickly, here is how.
To increase the font size, hold down the Ctrl key and then press the shift and > keys.
To decrease font size, hold down the Ctrl+key and then press the Shift and < keys.
Auto-fit Column Width
Sometimes you may find that your data does not fit in a cell and spreads out of it.
But there is a quick way to fix this and give your data the space it needs by using the following keyboard command.
ALT + H + B + T
This will adjust the width of the column to fit the cell containing the most text.
Remove or Apply Cell Borders
If you would like to either remove or apply borders in your Excel worksheet quickly, you can try the following keyboard command.
Use Ctrl+Shift+7 if you would like to remove cell borders.
Use Ctrl+Shift+8 to add cell borders.
Applying or Removing Bold Format
When you would like to apply or remove bold format, hold down the Ctrl key and press B.
Wrap Text
If you would like to wrap text in Excel, try the following keyboard shortcut.
Ensure the cells you would like to format are active and hold down the Ctrl key and press the Shift and W keys.
Applying or Removing Cell Shading
If you want a way to apply or remove cell shading quickly, use the keyboard shortcut below.
To apply cell shading, ensure the cells you would like to apply it to are active and hold down the Ctrl key and press the Shift and 9 keys.
If you wish to remove cell shading, ensure the cells you would like to remove the shading from are active, and then hold down the Ctrl key and press the Shift and 0 keys.
Applying or Removing Cell Styles
When you would like to apply or remove cell styles, the following keyboard shortcuts can be used.
To apply a cell style, ensure the cells you would like to apply it to are active and hold down the Ctrl key and press the Shift and ! keys.
Alternatively, if you would like to remove a cell style, hold down the Ctrl key and press the Shift and ” keys.
Merging and Unmerging Cells
You can use the keyboard shortcut below to easily merge or unmerge cells in your Excel worksheet.
For merging cells, ensure the cells you would like to merge are active and hold down the Ctrl key and press the Shift and M keys.
For unmerging cells, select the cells to unmerge and hold down the Ctrl key and press the Shift and U keys.
Centering Text
An easy way to center text in Excel quickly is to use the following keyboard shortcut.
Ensure the cells you wish to apply the formatting to are active and hold down the Ctrl+Shift+E keys.
Applying a Border
If you need to apply a border to some text in your Excel worksheet, try this keyboard shortcut.
Select the area you would like to apply a border to and hold down ALT + H + B + A. The default color of this border will be black, but you can change this color by going to “Home,” finding Font, and then choosing line color.
Changing the Font Color
You can quickly change the font color in Excel by using the following keyboard shortcut.
When you would like to change your font color, hold down Ctrl+Shift+F.
Applying or Removing Conditional Formatting
If you would like to add or remove conditional formatting, the following keyboard shortcuts can be used.
For applying conditional formatting, ensure the cells you would like to format are active and hold down Ctrl+Shift+5.
For removing conditional formatting, ensure the cells you would like to format are active and hold down Ctrl+Shift+6.
Changing the Fill Color
To change the fill color for your Excel worksheet, try the keyboard shortcut below.
In order to change the fill color, select the cells in which you would like to change the fill color and hold down Ctrl+Shift+B.
Applying and Removing Number Formatting
You can quickly apply or remove number formatting by using the following keyboard shortcut.
To apply number formatting, ensure the cells in which you would like to apply the formatting are active and hold down Ctrl+Shift+1.
To remove number formatting, ensure the cells in which you would like to apply the formatting are active and hold down Ctrl+Shift+2.
Opening the Format Cells Dialog Box
Opening the Format Cells dialog box will give you a number of formatting options. To open this dialog box, hold down Control + 1.
The above shortcuts can make formatting your data quicker and easier, which could save you a lot of time.