Jump to the end of the data, back to the top, and select a whole block, all without the mouse. Three moves save more time than any list of shortcuts.
Point at a step to see the sheet right after it.
cursor in A1 The cursor sits in A1, the top of the orders. Pick a key to see where it goes.
Most people who are slow in Excel aren’t slow typists. They lose the time between the typing: scrolling to the bottom of a list, dragging a selection past the end of the data, reaching for the mouse to get back to the top.
A list of shortcuts doesn’t fix that. The keys have to be in your hands before they save anything. Below you practice each move in a real sheet, and only the keys count: clicking the cell doesn’t pass. The keys shown are the ones for your computer.
This is Witsheet, Witsy’s in-browser spreadsheet. It works like Excel and checks each step as you go.
Ctrl and an arrow key jumps to the last filled cell in that direction. Ctrl+Home goes back to A1 from anywhere. The longer the sheet, the more scrolling each one replaces.
A jump stops at the last filled cell before a blank one. In data with gaps it takes a few presses to reach the end.
cursor in A7 Order ID has no gaps, so one jump reaches the last order. Jump down a column you know is complete.
Point at a step to see the sheet right after it.
That makes a jump the quickest way to find the holes in a column you were told was complete: if it stops early, there’s a blank.
Hold Shift and every jump becomes a selection: the cursor stays put and the selection stretches to the edge. Two Shift jumps, down and then right, select a whole table from its top-left corner.
selected A7 Without Shift the cursor moves, and the only cell selected is the one it lands on.
Point at a step to see the sheet right after it.
That’s where copying, sorting, formatting or building a pivot table starts. Unlike dragging, it never stops short of the last row or runs past it.
Ctrl+End goes to the last cell Excel thinks is in use, which can be a row someone typed in and then deleted. If it lands far below your table, there’s formatting or old content down there.
Ctrl+A grows in two steps. Inside a block of data it selects the block; press it again and it selects the whole sheet. The Shift jumps select only what you aimed at.
Excel for Mac uses Command and an arrow key for the jumps, and Control and an arrow works too. Most Mac keyboards have no Home key: it’s Fn+←, so going to A1 is Control+Fn+←. Add Shift to any jump to select instead of move. The exercise and the examples above show the keys for your computer.
Navigation shortcuts need room. Download the workbook: 150 employee rows to jump through, select and slice with the keyboard, plus lookup and logic tasks once you’re moving quickly.
150 employees across departments and offices, with start dates and salaries. Practice lookups by ID, IF logic on salary bands, sorting, filtering, and date arithmetic.
150 rows · Employee ID · Full Name · Department · Office · Start Date · Annual Salary
Free · fictional data · opens in Excel and Google Sheets
Witsy’s Excel course teaches a few hundred small skills, called Wits, the way this page teaches keyboard shortcuts: in a real spreadsheet, a step at a time. The placement test finds the ones you already have.
Take a few minute test to see how good you actually are with spreadsheets. Witsy creates a map of the Wits you should learn next.
Take the placement test Or just start learning →