Brackets Shortcut in Excel?

aspiringmonkey:

nothing wrong with the mouse, you only save like 2 seconds by doing the short cuts. But good list anyway :)

Do you have any idea what you are talking about? I hope you say that in an interview.

Good job man. Very impressive and helpful. Although I must admit that for an analyst, you must have a lot of time to do this.

3 months away from VP. I'm between projects and waiting for a client's go-ahead. Having a blast reading these boards though. The scars from my analyst years are still fresh enough to remember. A banker has to keep his skills fresh! How can I ask for something if I couldn't do it myself?

I sympathize tremendously with someone who is totally intolerant of being bored.

This seems like a clear act of desperation in trying to avoid being bored. I salute you, sir.

Id say they save you 2 seconds per action while making a model...shortcuts save a considerable amount of time. And dont forget alll the alt + letters combinations in excel. Its just quick menu use, not exactly shortcuts, but they are incredibly time saving

Shift-Space is select row.
Ctrl-Space is select column.

Works well in conjunction with Ctrl-9 and -0, which I didn't know about, instead using the second windows key, AKA "action key" and "h". But on a ThinkPad there is no action key so that is useful.

Shift-Ctrl + 1-0 will do instant formating.

1 is number with two decimals; 4 is currency format, 5 is percent format, etc... Play around with them.

Ctrl-y can be used to repeat the action again and again. Very useful, especially when working with tables in word. A tip for word this reminds me of is to never delete colums in a table. Erase the contents and merge the column, line by line, with the adjoining column. This will allow you to maintain formating better.

Being able to navigate excel with the keyboard only saves a lot of time.

I've got a couple that for some reason people don't seem to know:

Ctrl + Shift + - (minus): remove all borders in selection.

^ This one saves me a considerable amount of time

Ctrl + Shift + 7: Apply border around selection.

Alt + ; : Define Styles dialog

Ctrl + ; : Insert current date

Ctrl + 1 : Format cells dialog (duh, the most used)

All the Ctrl-Shifts are massive time savers.

Yeah. In training, we did all our work with the mouse turned over so we couldn't use it. The mouse is definitely not a tool you want to admit to relying on in this business. Those two seconds start to rack up when you're doing something hundreds of times.

I sometimes use the mouse if I'm particularly bored with a task to mix it up a bit but I inevitably get annoyed and go back to the keyboard. Most of the shortcuts I know about I've found out by accident...tough to remember a long list of them from day one.

I remember in my first week being taken through the comp template by a senior analyst and him telling me "you need to play that keyboard like a piano" which at the time I thought was amusing/ sad. I totally get it now though.

is there a hot key for the paint brush, what about outlining cells?

Is there a shortcut to tab between frames on a webpage?

good call

,but I still think that shortcuts are a bit hyped up.

I don't really think they save that much time. (being worth 2 seconds of efficiency each) I could save more time per day by going on one less 2 minute restroom break.

you save a lot more time than that with keyboard shortcuts.

all the alt e-s's will save you a lot of time.

the key is having both hands on the keyboard at all times--very efficient.

Alt+shift left/right arrow to group/ungroup rows or columns

Anyone that says shortcuts don't save time doesn't know them.

Force yourself to use them for a week and thank us later.

Excel:
I don't like Ctrl 0 and 9 - better to use Alt D G G and Alt D G H to hide rows so that you can get them back when wanted, easily.

To fill things quickly and change font colors quickly, move those two buttons into your first row of action keys, near the beginning. If you hit Alt and release (highlights the menus) then hit Ctrl+tab, it'll drop you down to the tool bars.

For powerpoint:
Alt R A T (or R A L, R A R, R A B) to align objects to top, left, right, bottom respectively

Alt E O O open embedded object

Alt V C G to set grayscale mode so you can fix those little boxes in the bottom corner hiding your logo.

Alt V I I to get some drawing guidelines (not gridlines, lines you can physically move yourself)

For all you haters, live a few days in the analyst's cube and you'll thank your lucky stars for shortcuts.

Incoming analyst season I see...

Does anyone know where the thread can be reached which had the list? I accessed it a few weeks back but do not see it in the thread anymore.

Thanks

All keystroke combinations for all programs on all operating systems... link is for Excel 2003, but feel free to browse around http://keyxl.com/aaab2f6/9/Microsoft-Excel-spreadsheet-keyboard-shortcuts.htm

Thanks...Much appreciated

Have any of you made the transition to '07? Comments?

F4 is quicker than CTRL+y in Excel

Anyone know how to move from a cell to the fx bar to edit something?

Thanks!

F2?

thanks for the Alt + "=" . it is really helpful. i used to rather write the formula on the keyboard than having to click the sigma sign with the mouse.

and you need the keyboard shortcuts, not for the 2 seconds,but it is just that using the mouse becomes really irritating and annoying, anyone who works a lot with excel should know that. sometimes you do stuff that take a few more seconds with the keyboard just not to use the mouse, and having to lift your hand, take it off the keyboard and click the mouse, then putting your hand back to the keyboard. it is just annoying.

btw, i am not doing an internship in IB but somewhere else. i hope i get one next summer.

i find the key on many keyboards next to the control key that looks like a mouse pointer.... which is used as a function key can be very handy in excel. they are the same shortcuts that you can get to with other shortcuts but often cuts down one key.

i.e.) paste special
(alt e s)
or
(special s)

yeah its just one key but might help.

I always hit F1 instead of F2 and was about to DDT my monitor one night when I found out Ctrl+F1 takes away the help menu....

rip the F1 key off your keyboard.... but wait until you are pissed off because it feels really good to do it.

F9 - Update

:)

F9 - Update
F9 - Update
F9 - Update
F9 - Update!!!!!!!

sick post

Crtl + Page Up/Page Down = Move between tabs in an Excel Workbook

You can access these free and other xls mumbo-jumbo here:

http://www.WallStreetPrep.com/community/excel_resources.php

This is a good custom excel shortcuts add-in:

http://simpleshortcuts.net

Does anyone know a short-cut to auto adjust the column width or row height to fit the text in those cells? (equivalent of double clicking ie. in between the A and B column labels at the top)

^^

Consultant in the house, biatches.

Control - Space, Alt - O, C, A

or

Shirt - Space, Alt - O, R, A

P.S. Some use of the mouse is actually quicker (i.e. selecting a background color in the formatting dialog box--do you really want to hit the arrow that many times?)

P.P.S. Thanks for reminding me about Alt - = and Control - ] and Control - [.

P.P.P.S. My favorite formating command of all time, center across selection, is Control - 1, H, Tab, C, C, Enter, Enter

Merging cells is for noobs.

good stuff. Thanks

I'm really suprised no one has mentioned the following (which has made my life so, so much easier):

To truly unlock the power of Excel - create your own shortcuts. To assign a shortcut key to any of the toolbar buttons, do the following.

1. Right click on the toolbar area at the top of excel - a menu will pop-down
2. Click "Customize..." at the bottom of the pop-down menu - this will open a dialogue box.
3. While this dialogue box is open, you're still able to click 'behind' the dialogue box on any of the buttons in the toolbars.
4. Pick the button that you want to assign an alt + "any key" shortcut to. For this example, lets choose the 'remove decimal' button (for clarity, the button which if you're on a cell(s) with "0.00" formatting if you click once, removes one decminal place, click twice and it removes the second decimal place,).
5. Right click on this button and you'll get another pop-down menu.
6. Check off "Image and Text"
7. In the Name Dialogue box of this same pop-down menu replace the current entry with "&." (where the & = the 'alt' key, and the "." equals the corresponding shortcut key)
8. Click anywhere to exit the pop-down menu, then exit from the Customize menu.
9. Now take a look at your button. It should have your shortcut key (".") next to it with an underline.
10. Now in your sheet type a number, format it to two decimal places, then use your new alt + "." (although i think of it as alt + ">", and my add decimal place key is alt + "<")

As you might have discerned, the possibilities with this feature are endless. I've created shortcuts for cell justification, adding the "," for thousands, indenting. These shortcuts esstially eliminate the need to alt > release > ctrl + tab your way to these buttons.

When you're in customize mode (step #2 and #3 above) you can also move all the toolbar buttons into a more favorable position to (if you must) make your alt > release > ctrl + tabbing a little faster (e.g. move your border button or your text style and size all the way to the left)

My favorite shortcut of all:

In the customize dialogue box (step #2 above), go to the "Commands" menu tab and find the Font Color and Fill Color buttons (in the Format category). Drag these two items, into the Format menu at the very top of Excel and place them where you please in the menu (towards the top). Then go to this format menu (where you just dragged the button) and right click on it - this will drop down a similar menu as above (step #5) where you can make the same changes as you did in the decimal place example above (e.g. make sure the Name box is set to "&Font Color" - note, whichever letter the "&" preceeds will be your shortcut key). Then do the same thing to the Fill color button, setting the Name box to: "Font C&olor".

Now monkeys you can alt + o + f and alt + o + o your way to font and cell coloring bliss. Might take a bit to get used to, but now I find that if i'm using a computer that doesn't have these keys programmed, I go insane.

you're welcome

no, this should work for 2003, it works for me

i should have specified..
you dont have to check off Image and Text for any of the shortcuts in the menus (font and cell color in this case). Just make sure the "Name" box shows:

for Font Color -> "&Font Color"
for Fill Color -> "Fill C&olor"

This shortcut now functions like any other menu short cuts (like alt + e + s, for example) as opposed to the toolbar shortcuts that i outlined. So for example, for Font Color hit alt + o + f and then use your cursor key to find the desired color then hit enter. go have a ball.

oh cool, thanks!
Its funny to say but finding out some of these tricks is so F'ing exciting

Shortcuts DO save you time, and makes life just a lost easier.

Also, knowing shortcuts makes you seem like a better analyst even if you aren't any smarter, another way to differentiate yourself in a sea of homogeneity.

So yeah, learn shortcuts.

People saying that its not worth it: you guys will eventually unwillingly pick these up and utilize them, whether you want to or not, and you'll see firsthand once you actually hit the job that they are incredibly useful.

canadian: is there an easy way to save your preferences in excel to a jump drive and transfer them? I've set up some customized shortcuts on my home computer and now would like to transfer these to my work computer (rather than re-establish all of the customized shortcuts)?

The same question applies for outlook preferences, calendars, contacts, etc.

All of these are great. For those of you who have the TTS Turbo macro, learn to use it (the font color
toggle, number format toggle, and the decimal toggle are my favorite features, among others). For those of you who do NOT have their macro, find somebody who does and get it from them.

A few other shortcuts that haven't yet been mentioned (at least I didn't see them after briefly glancing through the thread...apologies if these are repeats), all for versions that are NOT 2007, which I'm convinced was sent to torture bankers:

Windows key + E opens explorer, allowing you to quickly access files by typing in the letter of each step in the file path and navigating with the arrows. Once you arrive at the folder, Cntrl + Tab to go over the the window to hit enter on the file you'd like to open. Try it and you'll see what i mean.

Alt + D goes to the address bar in internet explorer.

Alt + G goes to the Google toolbar if you have it installed

Alt + F, W, Enter to start a new folder (dunno if that's also the case in Vista)

Alt + F4 closes applications

Cntrl + F4 closes files

Cntrl + tab to switch through different open Excel workbooks

Alt, F, U for page setup in excel. Then hit S, Alt+R to set rows to repeat at top. Helpful for printing massive financial statements and keep the dates at the top

Alt, W, F to freeze panes. Same key combo unfreezes them.

Shift + F2 inserts a comment. Alt, E, A, M clears comments. Use go to special to highlight all comments and then delete 'em in one whack.

F5 is go to in Excel. Learn this. Learn to name cells (Cntrl+F3) and use that in conjunction F5 for quick navigation through really monster models.

F5, S is go to special, which opens up whole worlds. Learn to hit F5, Alt + S, O, X to highlight all hardcoded numbers (careful, doesn't count intracell sums). F5, Alt + S, W for row differences: useful for auditing models (highlight the block of links and if one of your contiguous links references a different row than its neighbors, it'll highlight it...really best for big monthly models)

Cntrl + [ to go to the first precedent in a cell. Then hit F5, Enter to go back to where you came. This is HUGE when it comes to auditing models and checking links on disparate tabs.

Alt, T, U, D traces dependents (useful in flat sheet models). Alt, T, U, T traces precedents

Alt, O, D brings up conditional formatting. Nice for highlighting credit stats when doing lbo models. If you blow a prospective covenant, it'll highlight it automatically. You can set covenants in a box in Excel and link the covenants to the conditional formatter. Don't hardcode it into the formatter, you'll eventually make a mistake.

=PROPER is a great function for cleaning buyer or contact lists. Reference the crappy text, and it'll capitalize the first letter of every word.

Learn to use Find and Replace (Cntrl + F, Alt + P, Alt + E) to make big sweeping changes to clean data or sometimes even do some mass formula changes.

Another data cleaning tip: Learn to use text to columns (Alt, D, E) to scrub shitty imported data from clients' equally shittily-maintained accounting systems.

Learn to paste special link (Copy, then Alt, E, S, Alt+L) to quickly link things

Okay that's enough for now, I'm just tired of writing. Suffice to say, there are lots and lots more where those came from. If you really want to learn shortcuts, make yourself learn all the toolbars so you can use hotkey combos instead of clicking around up there. Also get an Excel book and use that to find obscure formulas that can sometimes be useful. Taking a class with TTS or some other firm also helps. Most of these places have a list of commonly used shortcuts you can put up in your cube (hugely helpful), but I imagine many such sheets can be found online. Ask senior analysts and senior associates how to do things. Above all, be disciplined and make yourself learn them, and try and find more efficient ways to do things that you find cumbersome.

Good luck and happy modeling!

has anyone heard any rumors about banks making a switch to 2007? I wonder what kind of impact that would have on the productivity of analysts. Obviously a lot of the shortcuts, etc. are the same, but there may be a period of a few weeks where people are getting up to speed.

Any thoughts?

can somebody post the origina thread that he was talking about? Because i didnt see the link
thanks

oops.

haha fantastic thread.

pop quiz for all you self proclaimed excel gurus.

How do you COPY AND PASTE formulas, but RETAIN the exact linking (ie, there is no relative movement of the source cells)?

And im talking like at least 50 cells of complex formulas (so don't tell me SELECT A SINGLE CELL, hit f2, SHIFT HOME, CTRL C, and paste).

ctrl + alt + F9

Anyone know a decent way to use shortcuts in Internet Explorer or Outlook? Pretty much the only time I need a mouse is clicking on links or opening attachments in emails.

ctrl `

bump

bump

You use it all the time to audit models, and the more complex the model, the more it helps to use this shortcut.

Thanks for the shortcuts. A lot o them are pretty useful.

I found this two page PDF titled "Commonly Used Excel Shortcuts for Excel 2007". I think it might be given out by Goldman Sachs to its summer analysts. I couldn't copy and paste it below because of its PDF format but you can find it at this link. http://gottamentor.com/viewDocument.aspx?d=857

That document was made by Training the Street, hence the title: "Excel Shortcuts by Training the Street". It's handed to out to all participants in the Training the Street training program -- my bank included.

I was wondering if anyone had a sheet of paper with all of the toolbar/menu shortcuts from excel 2003 (ex/ paste special--> ALT,e,s).

I had them all of in a document that a friend printed out for me, but I can't find. It was a bit more comprehensive then the Training the Street version.

If you'd read the entire thread... http://keyxl.com/aaab2f6/9/Microsoft-Excel-spreadsheet-keyboard-shortcuts.htm

I suspect your background is computer science application. Because you know those guys like my friends have passion in new OS and Type commands.
Their desktop is always black and small charaters are bliking.
Lask year I'm still using Linux-Fedora, Later my OS corrupt and I quit it.
Maybe you will be on a way headed to GEEK

Definitely i'm also fond of using keyboard shortcut in daily job, 'cause it can ease my nerve instead of cliking the damn mouse and improve the sentivity.
Anyway, i'm usually using 80% of your posted.
Thanks man~

I don't know if this has been posted already, but when entering in formulas, you can use the "+" key on the number pad instead of the "=" key to start of your formula.

Personally, I've found it annoying having to look down to find the "=" key. Huge discovery, imo.

The + key is the = key.

nevermind, I didn't realize you meant the big plus key.

Is there a shortcut to highlight a cell or a series of selected cells?

To highlight cells you just hold down shift and use the arrow keys to select the cells you want.

If you're trying to highlight contiguous cells, just select the cells and hit Shift + F8.

I should have been more clear. Is there a shortcut to highlight/fill the contents of a cell (yellow, green, etc..)?

When you select a cell and press Ctrl+b the contents are bolded. Is there a similar keyboard shortcut to fill in the cell with color?

There isn't a shortcut for that, but what I've done is moved the font color dropdown and the cell color drop down to the top left of the screen. If you're in Excel 2003, you just hold down Alt, click on the icon, then move it wherever you want. I moved mine just to the left of where it says "File". That way, if I want to change the color of a cell, I just hit "Alt" and I'm right there. Then you just use the arrow keys to choose the color.

I've actually rearranged my entire menu bar to only show what I use.

.

thanks a lot these tips should be quite helpful...I'm currently a junior interviewing for SA positions.

im not sure if anyone mentioned it but Alt + W + S splits up the screen in Excel.
Very useful when linking cells in the model

Let's say you're updating an excel chart in powerpoint. What is the series of shortcuts that allows you to paste in the updated excel chart into the page so that it has the same sizing as the chart its replacing (so that you don't have to stretch horizontally or vertically to get the size to match)??

I realize a lot of people are hating on 07... but when I press alt, it shows a letter/# in front of every menu option making it easy to just hit the letter - this even works great for coloring. I shift + arrow the columns I need to color, then I hit alt, h, h, and select the color i want with arrow keys. If I have the color defaulted in, I just hit alt, h, h, enter. Very quick IMO?

Anyone know the shortcut to skip a column when highlighting across the page?

Not sure if you mean every-other column, but when highlighting, press F8 (while already holding shift, so essentially Shift+F8), and you're free to navigate while maintaining any cells already highlighted.

Also, not sure if this got covered in the three years of comments here, but for those who dislike Ctrl+0/9 for hiding columns/rows, simply include shift in either command to un-hide the column/row. And you don't have to press Ctrl/Shift + Space first to hide or unhide. The command works based on which cell(s) you have highlighted when hiding/unhiding.

Sorry I'm a freshman here but I don't find the "link" mentioned in the post

Thanks for all the shortcuts freeminimalist, i'm still faster than most of the SAs after texting and napping!

I love that this turned into a big Fuck you to the guy who was all about it only saving two minutes a day.

good job man, but as an analyst you have to do alot more !!!

Love the post. Here's a good one: if you have a ton of windows open and you need to get to your desktop, (windows button + D) is an absolute game-changer. Do it again to return the windows to their original state. Money in the bank.

Also, to print preview in Excel, try (CTRL + F2) - way more efficient than Alt + F + W + V in '07.

I don't really think they save that much time. (being worth 2 seconds of efficiency each) I could save more time per day by going on one less 2 minute restroom break.

Resume Writing Services

I just compiled a concise list of what I think are the most useful keyboard shortcuts in Excel 2003, 2007, and 2010. IMHO, these are the shortcuts that every i-banker memorizes within a week of starting. Let me know if I missed any obvious ones...

Here is the link:
http://smartshortcuts.com/shortcuts

Should put in some ppt shortcuts for instance ALT + Shift = has saved me a ton of time trying to footnote my assumption

I am new to this forum and trying to figure out this..

Bump. Would anyone be willing to provide the TTS Turbo Macros .xla? Would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

Bump indeed. I would think that for any serious resume writer or keyboard jockey, using macros and keyboard shortcuts would be absolutely key.

very useful

Can anyone send me the link?

I haven't used 2010, but likely they haven't changed the shortcuts much from '07 to '10.

http://www.WallStreetPrep.com/extrafiles/finmodeling/downloads/xlshortcuts07.pdf

What bank uses Excel 2010 (or even 2007)?

Just about all of them use 2007.

Does anyone know of specific bulge bracket banks that use 2003? Please list them if possible.

BAML uses 2003