Many of you are transitioning to Excel for the Mac, and have asked us what our favorite Excel Mac shortcuts are. While our keyboard covers show the 20 most commonly used shortcuts, there are definitely a few gems that really make using Excel on the Mac that much better than the PC. That’s right…I said it…Excel for the Mac is better than the PC!
Here are the Top 5:
1) Increase/Decrease Font Size – SHIFT+COMMAND+. (increase)SHIFT+COMMAND+, (decrease)
The reason why this is the best Mac Excel shortcut is because it doesn’t even exist on the PC! Quickly increase and decrease the font size without going through the Format Cells menu or clicking on the pesky font size drop-down in the toolbar.
Instead of physically typing the dollar symbol into your cell reference when creating a formula, simply click on the part of the formula that you need the dollar symbols to be in and press F4 on your keyboard.
2) Delete Everything in Selected Cells – FN+DELETE
Why is it so hard to delete stuff in Excel for the Mac? Press fn+delete and you’ll actually delete everything in your selection and the delete button actually works like it’s intended to work.
3) Create Filter – SHIFT+COMMAND+F
You have a list of data and you need to create a filter. Instead of going through the regular toolbar, navigate to the first row with the field names in your list and hit shift+command+f. Simple.
4) Center Align Data – COMMAND+E
You have a bunch of cells with data and they are all weirdly aligned. Some are right-aligned and some are left-aligned. The reason why this shortcut is so powerful is because it’s SO EASY to use! There is no equivalent on the PC; the PC shortcut is ALT, H, A, C! Definitely a lot simpler to hit command+e in my opinion!
5) Autosum a Bunch of Numbers – SHIFT+COMMAND+T
We’ve all had to type =SUM(blah blah blah) before to sum a bunch of numbers. This handy shortcut let’s you create the sum automatically without having to type in the formula! Just go to the empty cell below a bunch of numbers you want to sum and hit shift+command+t and Excel automatically knows which cells you want to sum!
In conclusion, Excel for the Mac is pretty powerful…
Which Excel for Mac shortcuts do you use every day? Which Excel shortcuts on the PC do you wish existed on the Mac?
Shortcuts For Currencies
Labeling your data is extremely important as it increases the comprehensibility and decreases false assumptions. As world markets become increasingly globalized, chances are you deal in two or more world currencies or even in foreign exchange markets. Ensuring you have the proper signs associated with the data you are working with is vitally important as misunderstanding currencies can alter decision making by millions!
Below is a list of all the currency symbol shortcuts I could find. I have listed out both the PC and Mac versions for each symbol (where applicable).
Symbol | Name | PC Shortcut | Mac Shortcut |
---|---|---|---|
$ | Dollar Sign | Shift + 4 | Shift + 4 |
¢ | Cent | Alt + 155 | Option + 4 |
€ | Euro | Alt + 0128 | Shift + Option + 2 |
£ | British Pound | Alt + 156 | Option + 3 |
¥ | Japanese Yen | Alt + 157 | Option + Y |
ƒ | Dutch Florin | Alt + 0131 | Option + F |
₧ | Spanish Peseta | Alt + 158 | N/A |
ƒ | French Franc | Alt + 159 | N/A |
¤ | Currency | Alt + 0164 | N/A |
Any Others?
Do you know any other symbol shortcuts that can be added to this list? Please leave a comment below and I will add it to my list.
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