Google Sheets Keyboard Shortcuts Guide

We all know the disruption the mouse enabled graphical user interface brought to the world. It was revolutionary. Without a doubt, navigation within the applications has become a lot more intuitive. However, for a regular user, using a mouse to work on Google Sheets can slow down productivity. Because, keyboard strokes take much less time to perform than using the mouse to navigate and click. In this article, we list down the most useful Google Sheets keyboard shortcuts. Since, working with the keyboard is much faster than with the mouse.

Google Sheets Keyboard Shortcuts

There are a lot of Google Sheets keyboard shortcuts available for us to be able to productively accomplish our day to day tasks. You may access the comprehensive list here. But, we list below the most useful ones below.

File actions

ActionWindowsMac
Save
(every change is saved automatically in Drive)
Ctrl + s⌘ + s
OpenCtrl + o⌘ + o
PrintCtrl + p⌘ + p

Data handling

ActionWindowsMac
CopyCtrl + c⌘ + c
CutCtrl + x⌘ + x
PasteCtrl + v⌘ + v
Paste values onlyCtrl + Shift + v⌘ + Shift + v
UndoCtrl + z⌘ + z
RedoCtrl + y⌘ + y
Ctrl + Shift + z⌘ + Shift + z
F4Fn + F4
FindCtrl + f⌘ + f
Find and replaceCtrl + h⌘ + Shift + h
Fill rangeCtrl + Enter⌘ + Enter
Fill downCtrl + d⌘ + d
Fill rightCtrl + r⌘ + r
Select allCtrl + a⌘ + a
Ctrl + Shift + Space⌘ + Shift + Space
Select columnCtrl + SpaceCtrl + Space
Select rowShift + SpaceShift + Space

 

Navigation

ActionWindowsMac
Move to beginning of rowHomeFn + Left arrow
Move to beginning of sheetCtrl + Home⌘ + Fn + Left arrow
Move to end of rowEndFn + Right arrow
Move to end of sheetCtrl + End⌘ + Fn + Right arrow
Scroll to active cellCtrl + Backspace⌘ + Backspace
Move to next sheetCtrl + Shift + Page Down⌘ + Shift + Fn + Down arrow
Move to previous sheetCtrl + Shift + Page Up⌘ + Shift + Fn + Up arrow
Display list of sheetsAlt + Shift + kOption + Shift + k
Open hyperlinkAlt + EnterOption + Enter
Open ExploreAlt + Shift + xOption + Shift + x
Move focus out of spreadsheetCtrl + Alt + Shift + mCtrl + ⌘ + Shift + m
Open drop-down menu on filtered cellCtrl + Alt + rCtrl + ⌘ + r

 

Formatting

ActionWindowsMac
BoldCtrl + b⌘ + b
UnderlineCtrl + u⌘ + u
ItalicCtrl + i⌘ + i
StrikethroughAlt + Shift + 5Option + Shift + 5
Center alignCtrl + Shift + e⌘ + Shift + e
Left alignCtrl + Shift + l⌘ + Shift + l
Right alignCtrl + Shift + r⌘ + Shift + r
Apply outer borderAlt + Shift + 7Option + Shift + 7
Ctrl + Shift + 7⌘ + Shift + 7
Apply top borderAlt + Shift + 1Option + Shift + 1
Apply right borderAlt + Shift + 2Option + Shift + 2
Apply bottom borderAlt + Shift + 3Option + Shift + 3
Apply left borderAlt + Shift + 4Option + Shift + 4
Remove bordersAlt + Shift + 6Option + Shift + 6
Insert linkCtrl + k⌘ + k
Insert timeCtrl + Shift + ;⌘ + Shift + ;
Insert dateCtrl + ;⌘ + ;
Insert date and timeCtrl + Alt + Shift + ;⌘ + Option + Shift + ;
Format as decimalCtrl + Shift + 1Ctrl + Shift + 1
Format as timeCtrl + Shift + 2Ctrl + Shift + 2
Format as dateCtrl + Shift + 3Ctrl + Shift + 3
Format as currencyCtrl + Shift + 4Ctrl + Shift + 4
Format as percentageCtrl + Shift + 5Ctrl + Shift + 5
Format as exponentCtrl + Shift + 6Ctrl + Shift + 6
Clear formattingCtrl + \⌘ + \

 

Notes and comments

ActionWindowsMac
Insert/edit noteShift + F2Shift + F2
Insert/edit commentCtrl + Alt + m⌘ + Option + m
Open comment discussion threadCtrl + Alt + Shift + a⌘ + Option + Shift + a
Enter current commentholding Ctrl + Alt, press e then cholding Ctrl + ⌘, press e then c
Move to next commentholding Ctrl + Alt, press n then cholding Ctrl + ⌘, press n then c
Move to previous commentholding Ctrl + Alt, press p then cholding Ctrl + ⌘, press p then c

 

That was the list of most commonly used Google Sheets keyboard shortcuts. Should you need more of these hacks to maximize your productivity in Google Sheets, check out our blog post with 10 spreadsheet tips and tricks. 

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