Want to be an Excel Wizard? Six handy tips to become more efficient

by Michelle Mangen on September 25, 2009

in Excel Tips & How-To

I have my own little hashtag (#ExcelQueen) on Twitter for all the Excel shortcuts I share. I thought it was time to do a video with a few of them.

Under the video you will find the written version of the tips.


  • Tip 1: Maneuvering to different sheets – two different options for selecting tabs in large worksheets:  a) right click on the arrows in the very bottom, left corner of your Excel document – that will bring up a list of all the various tabs within the sheet.   b) CTRL+Page Up will move one tab to the left and CTRL+Page Down will move one tab to the right
  • Tip 2: Selecting a range: instead of scrolling down/over to select your range. Within the active cell you can hold SHIFT down while you select the area (or do SHIFT+Page Down, etc)
  • Tip 3: Filling in duplicate data in large range: highlight desired range>type desired data into the active cell>Control+Enter
  • Tip 4: View windows side by side: View>New Window. By default this will create a new window. If you want to see them side by side or bottom/top click “Arrange All” and select the desired viewing option.
  • Tip 5: Fill cell with data directly above: CTRL+D
  • Tip 6: Fill cell with data directly to the left: CTRL+R
  • Teaser: Conditional formatting. My next video will show two fun and practical uses for Conditional Formatting in Excel.

wizard merlin figurine 543554 l 150x150 Want to be an Excel Wizard? Six handy tips to become more efficientMake sure you visit again for more Excel Tutorials. Pretty soon you will be an Excel Wizard…maybe I should have chosen that as my hasthtag instead of #ExcelQueen!

Want to be an Excel Wizard? Six handy tips to become more efficient

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  • gwenrule62flapper costumes

    Anybody know how to highlight something without manually holding down the mouse or pointer. In other words, if I want to highlight to the end of a sentence in notepad is there a shortcut key where I can insert the cursor at the beginning, use a shortcut and go to the end of the string of characters.

    • http://www.thevirtualasst.com Michelle Mangen

      Gwen – yes, to highlight entire row without using the mouse.
      With your cursor at your desired starting location hit “Shift+End”. That will highlight the entire sentence.

  • http://wizardhalloweencostume.com/ Garrett@Wizard Halloween Costume

    I use excel to manage all of my business site details but am still becoming familiar with it. These tips are helpful, especially the first one on maneuvering to different sheets.

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