Which of these combination keys will you press to switch between two workbook windows?

Keyboard shortcuts for making selections Ctrl + A Selects the entire worksheet Ctrl + Shift + Page up Selects the current and previous worksheet Ctrl + Shift + Page down Shift + Up arrow Extends the selection of a cell by one cell upward Shift + Down arrow Extends the selection of a cell by one cell downward Shift + Right arrow Extends the selection of a cell by one cell forward Shift + Left arrow Extends the selection of a cell by one cell backward F8 Turns on extend mode so you can extend selections with the arrow key pressed Enter Makes a cell entry and selects the cell below Shift + Enter Make a cell entry and selects the cell above Shift + Spacebar Selects an entire row Ctrl + Spacebar Selects an entire column Ctrl + Shift + Home Extends selection from the current cell to the beginning of the sheet Ctrl + Shift + End Extends selection from the current cell to the end of the sheet Home Selects the first cell in a row Keyboard shortcuts for performing actions Ctrl + Z Undoes the last action Ctrl + Y Repeats the last action Ctrl + N Creates a new worksheet Ctrl + B Bolds the item in a cell Ctrl + I Italicizes the item in a cell Ctrl + U Underlines the item in a cell Ctrl + 5 Applies a strikethrough to the content in a cell Ctrl + O Opens a worksheet Ctrl + W Closes a worksheet Ctrl + S Saves a worksheet Ctrl + C Copies a selection Ctrl + V Pastes a selection Ctrl + X Cuts a selection Ctrl + 9 Hides a row Ctrl + 0 Hides a column Delete Removes the content of a cell Alt + H, A, C Aligns the content of a cell to the center Alt + P Goes to the Page Layout tab Alt + N Goes to the Insert tab Alt + A Goes to the Data tab Alt + W Goes to the View tab Alt + M Goes to the Formula tab Alt + H, B Adds borders Alt + H, D, C Deletes a column Keyboard shortcuts for navigating in cells Up arrow Moves one cell up in a worksheet Down arrow Moves one cell down in a worksheet Right arrow Moves one cell to the right in a worksheet Left arrow Moves one cell to the left in a worksheet Ctrl + Arrow Moves to the edge of the data in the direction of the arrow key End, arrow Enters the end mode and moves to the edge in the direction of the arrow key pressed Ctrl + End Moves to the last cell in a worksheet Ctrl + End Moves to the first cell in a worksheet Page up Moves one screen up Page down Moves one screen down Alt + Page up Moves one screen to the left Alt + Page down Moves one screen to the right Keyboard shortcuts for formatting cells Ctrl + 1 Opens the Format Cells dialogue box Ctrl + Shift + F Opens the dialogue box for formatting fonts in a cell F2 Turns on cursor in a cell Shift + F2 Inserts a note Ctrl + Shift + F2 Inserts a threaded comment Ctrl + Shift + Plus (+) Opens the dialogue box for inserting blank cells Ctrl + Shift + Minus (-) Opens the dialogue box for deleting selected cells Ctrl + Semicolon Enters the current date Ctrl + Shift + Colon Enters the current time Ctrl + C Copies the selected cell Ctrl + X Cuts the selected cell Ctrl + V Pastes copied or selected content Ctrl + Alt + V Opens the Paste Special dialogue box Ctrl + Shift + & Applies an outlined border to the selected cell Ctrl + 8 Displays and hides outlined symbols Ctrl + D Replaces the current content with the content above it Ctrl + $ Applies currency formatting to a number Ctrl + ~ Applies the general number format Ctrl + Shift + % Applies the percentage format Ctrl + Shift + ^ Apploes the scientific number format Ctrl + Shift + # Applies the day format to a number with the day, month, and year Ctrl + Shift + @ Applies the time format with the hour, minute, and PM or AM Ctrl + Shift + ! Applies the number format with thousand separators Ctrl + K Opens the inserts a hyperlink dialogue box F7 Checks spelling in the worksheet or selected range Ctrl + Q Displays the Quick Analysis options Ctrl + T Displays the Create Table dialogue box Ctrl + Shift + G Opens the Workbook Stats dialogue box Keyboard shortcuts for working with functions and the formula bar Ctrl + Shift + U Expands and collapses the formula bar Enter Executes an entry in the formula bar Esc Cancels an entry in the formula bar Shift + F9 Calculates the active worksheet F9 Calculates all worksheets in opened workbooks Alt + Shift + F10 Displays the message or menu for an Error Checking button Alt + = Inserts the autosum formula Shift + F3 Inserts a function Alt + F11 Opens the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Editor Other Shortcuts F1 Displays Excel help Ctrl + F6 Switches between two Excel windows F7 Opens the spelling dialogue box for spellcheck Alt + F4 Closes Excel Ctrl + F5 Switches to the window size of the active workbook Shift + F11 Inserts a new worksheet F12 Opens the Save As dialogue box Ctrl + F10 Maximizes or restores the window of the selected workbook Ctrl + F9 Minimizes the workbook window

Bottom line: Learn 3 quick shortcuts to save, close, and navigate Excel workbooks.

Skill level: Beginner

There are a ton of shortcuts for navigating and interacting with Excel workbooks. In this post, I'm going to share the three that I probably use the most to save time with these common tasks.

#1 Open the File Save As Window

If you want to save the file you are currently working on with a different name or in a different folder, then you need to open the Save As window.

The keyboard shortcut to open the Save As window is: F12

If you are using a laptop or keyboard with multi-purpose function keys you might need to press Fn+F12.  Checkout my article on the best keyboards for Excel for more info on that.

The shorcut for the Save As window on the Mac version is: Cmd+Shift+S

The latest versions of Excel also make file renaming easy on the File > Save As Backstage view. You can set this view to open when pressing F12 by going to Excel Options > Save and uncheck “Don't show Backstage when opening or saving files with keyboard shortcuts.”

However, I tend to prefer the Save As window because you can rename and change locations in one place. You can also paste in folder paths to the address bar for quick navigation to a different folder.

If you have a bunch of files open and want to close them all at once so you can get out of the office quicker, then check out my post on 3 Tips to Save & Close All Excel Files.

#2 Navigate Through Open Workbooks

Sometimes I'll have three or more workbooks open that I want to quickly flip through. You can see a list of all the open Excel files on the View tab in the Switch Windows drop-down.

The keyboard shortcut to cycle through the open workbooks is: Ctrl+Tab

You can also go to the previous workbook by pressing: Ctrl+Shift+Tab

The shortcuts are the same on the Mac version of Excel.

You can also use Alt+Tab to flip between two workbooks, or any open application window.

Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab are best when you are switching between three or more workbooks, and only want to toggle within Excel.

Bonus tip: Ctrl+Tab also works for cycling through the tabs in your web browser.

#3 Close The Active Workbook

There are quite a few different ways to close an Excel file.

My favorite shortcut to close the workbook is: Ctrl+W

The shortcut to close the workbook on the Mac version is: Cmd+W

If the workbook needs to be saved, you will be prompted with the Save / Don't Save / Cancel dialog. You can just hit Enter to save and close the file.

Ctrl+F4 is another way to close the workbook.  I just prefer Ctrl+W because it has uses in other applications.

Bonus tip: You can also use Ctrl+W to close the current tab in your web browser.

Conclusion

There are three quick tips for working with Excel workbooks. What are some other shortcuts you use for these types of tasks? Please leave a comment below.

Thank you! 🙂

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