Excel — Shortcuts to Select

If you use Excel on a consistent basis, you probably already know that CTRL + SHIFT + Arrow will select all the data in the direction of your arrow selection. And if you didn’t know that one — now you do 😊

Example: Place your cursor in Cell E12 and click on CTRL + SHIFT + UP Arrow and Excel with select E12 and above.

Select Up

This can be especially handy when you need to select a long column of data. You can skip the scroll to the bottom.

Example: Cursor placed in B1 and click CTRL + SHIFT + DOWN Arrow and it will select everything in B Column all the way to Row 701.

Select Down

But did you know about CTRL + SPACE or SHIFT + SPACE?

This is handy when you are in the middle of your data selection and want to select the entire Row or entire Column. Let’s try it out.

Example: Cursor placed in E13 click CTRL + SPACE and the entire column above and below your cell is selected.

CTRL + SPACE to select entire Column from anywhere

Now try SHIFT + SPACE from the same cell, E13. The entire Row is selected.

SHIFT + SPACE to select entire row from anywhere

From all these selections you can cut, copy, delete, format — all the usual suspects. But you can also quickly insert an entire Row or Column with the shortcuts below.

Example: with a Column selected try CTRL + SHIFT + “+” to insert an entire Column before your selection.

Insert Column with keyboard shortcut

Or with a Row selected try CTRL + SHIFT + “+” to insert an entire Row above your selection.

Insert Row with keyboard shortcut

Pro tip: With the Row or Column (or really any cell) selected you can click CTRL + “-” and the selection will be deleted.

If you were on a single cell, you will be prompted for action.

Delete single cell with keyboard shortcut

These are handy shortcuts whether you have a large data set or small spreadsheet. No more right-clicking to bring up the menu to select “insert”.

Insert menu from top

Instead try CTRL + SPACE and then CTRL + SHIFT + “+” from anywhere in your data.