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25. All Excel Keyboard Shortcuts (Windows and Mac)

Practice and Answer Key: A Keyboard-Only Order Report

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Goal of this practice: Build a small order report using only the keyboard, on Windows or Mac.

Suppose Ravina has the 10 fictional orders from this module in A1:I11 of a sheet named Orders. Her mouse is not allowed for this exercise. All data is fictional practice data.

Order ID City Platform Amount (₹) Status
BLK-1001 Pune Blinkit 64 Delivered
BLK-1002 Nashik Blinkit 270 Delivered
AMN-1003 Pune Amazon Now 110 Delivered
BLK-1004 Nagpur Blinkit 240 Cancelled
AMN-1005 Kolhapur Amazon Now 232 Delivered
BLK-1006 Pune Blinkit 150 Delivered
BLK-1007 Solapur Blinkit 1299 Delivered
AMN-1008 Sambhaji Nagar Amazon Now 195 Returned
BLK-1009 Pune Blinkit 220 Cancelled
BLK-1010 Nashik Blinkit 90 Delivered

Exercise (one under the other):

  1. From any cell, jump to A1, then to the last Order ID.
  2. Select the whole Amount column of data (G1:G11) and read the Sum in the status bar.
  3. In G12 insert a total with AutoSum.
  4. In H8 type =G8/G12, fix G12 with F4, and format H8 as a percentage.
  5. Turn the data into a Table and filter City = Pune.
  6. Clear the filter and insert a chart sheet of City and Amount.

Expected result (check your numbers):

Step Windows keys Mac keys Expected result
1 Ctrl+Home, Ctrl+Down arrow Ctrl+Home, Cmd+Down arrow A1, then A11 (BLK-1010)
2 Click G1, Ctrl+Shift+Down arrow Shift+Cmd+Down arrow Status bar Sum 2,870
3 Alt+Equal sign Shift+Cmd+T =SUM(G2:G11) = 2,870
4 F4, then Ctrl+Shift+% Cmd+T or F4, then Ctrl+Shift+% =G8/$G$12 shows 45%
5 Ctrl+T, Alt+Down arrow on City Cmd+T, Option+Down arrow on City 4 rows, total ₹544
6 Ctrl+Shift+L twice (or clear), select C1:C11 and G1:G11, F11 F11 A chart sheet named Chart1
Answer key (open after you try) 
G12: =SUM(G2:G11)
H8:  =G8/$G$12      (Ctrl+Shift+% → percentage)
Table: Ctrl+T (Mac: Cmd+T)   Filter: Alt+Down arrow (Mac: Option+Down arrow)
Chart sheet: F11

Common mistakes:

What you see Why Fix
Ctrl+Down arrow stops halfway There is a blank cell in the column Press it again, or fill the blank
H8 shows 0.45 not 45% Number format not applied Press Ctrl+Shift+% on H8
AutoSum picked G2:G11 plus G1 Header was a number Edit the range to G2:G11 before Enter
F-keys change volume Laptop or Mac top row is in media mode Hold Fn, or change the function-key setting

Ravindra Bagale's rule: learn five shortcuts a week and use them every day; in a month the mouse becomes your second choice.

Quick recap

  • Ctrl+Arrow, Ctrl+Home, Ctrl+End move; add Shift to select (Mac: Cmd instead of Ctrl for arrows).
  • Ctrl+Enter fills many cells; Ctrl+D fills down; Ctrl+; enters today's date.
  • Ctrl+Shift with %, $, #, @, !, ~ applies number formats on both platforms.
  • Alt+= AutoSum (Mac: Shift+Cmd+T); F4 cycles $ (Mac: Cmd+T or F4).
  • Ctrl+T Table, Ctrl+Shift+L filter, Alt+Down arrow opens a filter list (Mac: Option+Down arrow).
  • Alt shows ribbon KeyTips on Windows; Mac uses menus and its own shortcuts.
  • Hold Fn on laptops and Macs when function keys control the system.