Microsoft Excel Keyboard Shortcuts, Function Keys, Useful Keys and Tips

Excel Tip: How to Tile Workbook Views

Many times in Microsoft Excel, you will have multiple workbooks open at once. When multiple workbooks are open, you would like to move information between them quickly. To see multiple workbooks at once, proceed to the Ribbon and select View/Arrange All. This will bring up a screen to tile the workbook views.

Excel Tip: How to Move a Worksheet Within a Workbook

The easiest way to move a sheet around in a workbook is to click and hold on a sheet tab then drag the selected tab to the new tab position in the workbook and release the mouse. To make a copy of the sheet, hold down the Ctrl key while moving it. Release the mouse button before the Ctrl key to complete the process. The worksheet is now moved.

Excel Tip: How to Quickly Move a Worksheet to Another Workbook

First tile the workbook display. Next click and hold on the sheet tab to move, drag the selected tab to the new tab position in the other workbook then release the mouse button. To make a copy of the sheet, hold down the CTRL key while moving it. Release the mouse button before the CTRL key to complete the process. Also note that if you are moving worksheets with formulas and those formulas reference other sheets in the workbook, moving the worksheet to another workbook will create external references back to the workbook being moved from. In other words your workbooks will be linked together.

Excel Tip: How to Rename a Worksheet

Renaming worksheets becomes important for organizational purposes. To change the default name of any sheet in a workbook, double click on the sheet tab then retype the sheet name. Press the Enter key to complete the process or the Esc key to dump the change. The maximum number of characters is 31.

Excel Tip: How to Select Multiple Items Above the Worksheet

To select multiple items above the worksheet hold down the SHIFT key while selecting. This comes in handy when selecting multiple drawing shapes and pictures.

Excel Tip: How to Move a Drawing Shape or Picture Precisely

Select the drawing shape or picture you want to move with the mouse cursor. Press the arrow keys to move the object. To position the object precisely, press CTRL+ an arrow key to move the object in one-pixel increments. To keep the drawing shape in line as you move it with your mouse, hold down the Shift key as you drag it. Remember to always release the mouse button before any key that you are holding down when down.

Excel Tip: How to Find and Run VBA Macros in Your Workbook

To display the Macro dialog box press ALT+F8. This box can run VBA procedures (macros) even if they are not listed because they are hidden.

To display the Visual Basic Editor press ALT+F11. This is where VBA code for the workbook is stored and can be edited.

To insert an Microsoft Excel 4.0 macro sheet press Ctrl+F11. These sheets are no longer in use so not recommended to be used.

Excel Tip: How to Check and See If a Workbook's Calculation Has Been Set to Manual

In large workbooks, it is sometimes advantageous to turn the Calculation feature off. This means formulas will not recalculate when their referenced cells are changed. To tell if the feature has been turned off, type a value in a cell that you know is referenced by a formula and press Enter. If the feature is turned off, you will see the word Calculate appear in the bottom left-hand corner of Excel's status bar. You can click the button to calculate or press the F9 or Shift+F9 keys as discussed above in the Function keys section.