44 Google Sheets Shortcuts You Must Know

44 Google Sheets Shortcuts You Must Know

Whether you’re a beginner in Google Sheets or a long-time user, getting the hang of using keyboard shortcuts can be quite challenging. However, making it a habit is sure to improve your productivity and reduce the time it takes for you to complete certain tasks.

In this guide, we’ll cover Google Sheets shortcuts you should be using on a regular basis. Mastering these shortcuts will surely reduce the time you spend getting lost trying to find buttons so you can spend your workday doing fruitful labor efficiently.

Don’t worry, this guide works great for both Mac and Windows PC users!

black computer keyboard on orange table

Basic Google Sheets Keyboard Shortcuts

Before we proceed to the more advanced shortcuts, let’s make sure we know the basics first!

  1. Common Actions

These are the most basic shortcuts everyone should be using including Undo, Redo, Select all, Print, etc.

Action Mac Windows PC
Undo Cmd+Z Ctrl+Z
Redo Cmd+Shift+Z
or Cmd+Y
Ctrl+Shift+Z
or Ctrl+Y
Select all Cmd+A Ctrl+A
Open another file Cmd+O Ctrl+O
Show all keyboard shortcuts in-app Cmd+/ Ctrl+/
Show or hide formulas Ctrl+~ Ctrl+~
Insert new sheet Shift+Fn+F11 Shift+F11
Search the menus Option+/ Alt+/
  1. Copy, Cut, and Paste

    There’s more than just the vanilla copy and paste.
    Paste Values Only omits the source’s formatting and allows you to follow the destination’s formatting upon Paste.
    Paste Formatting Only applies the source’s formatting to the destination.
Action Mac Windows PC
Copy Cmd+C Ctrl+C
Cut Cmd+X Ctrl+X
Paste Cmd+V Ctrl+V
Paste Values Only Cmd+Shift+V Ctrl+ShiftV
Paste Formatting Only Cmd+Option+V Ctrl+Shift+V
  1. Bold, Underline, Italic, Strikethrough

Format text like it’s your second nature.

Action Mac Windows PC Example
Bold Cmd+B Ctrl+B Shortcut
Underline Cmd+U Ctrl+U Shortcut
Italic Cmd+i Ctrl+i Shortcut
Strikethrough Cmd+Shift+X Alt+Shift+5 Shortcut
  1. Alignment

Never leave you’re sheets looking unprofessional with messed up and irregular alignments again.

Action Mac Windows PC Example
Align center Cmd+Shift+E Ctrl+Shift+E Keyboard
Align left Cmd+Shift+L Ctrl+Shift+L Keyboard
Align right Cmd+Shift+R Ctrl+Shift+R Keyboard
  1. Hyperlink

Make your spreadsheet more interactive by adding links to it. You can even link to other docs and sheets! Just have your URL ready and don’t forget to edit the text if you need to.

Action Mac Windows PC
Add Link Cmd+K Ctrl+K
Open Link Option+K Alt+K

Bonus tip: Want to do more than just the standard linking? How about cloud file management for your sheets? Try FileDrop which allows you to efficiently attach files like PDFs, images, and anything within your Google Drive to cells while also keeping tabs on your uploads.

Download the add-on for free here and start your Pro membership to access premium features like File Library, batch file uploads, powerful Google Drive integration, and more productivity features for individuals and teams.

Advanced Google Sheets Shortcut Keys

We swear by this list of Google Sheets shortcuts. Go over this curated list to learn new shortcuts as well as the underlying features they activate.

  1. Formatting

    Clear formatting

    is one of the most convenient shortcuts when revising your spreadsheets. It strips away a cell of its current text formatting such as bold, italic, text and fill colors, and alignment.

    You don’t have to jump into Format > Number each time you apply formatting as decimal, time, date, currency, percentage, or exponent. Use these shortcuts to apply the format you need to a cell.
See also  How To Attach A File To Google Sheets In 3 Steps

Note however that the number format will use the default formats. If you need a different currency, number, or time format, you should still configure that through Format > Number > Custom.

Action Mac Windows PC Example
Clear Formatting Cmd+\ Ctrl+\ 100
Format number as decimal Ctrl+Shift+1 Ctrl+Shift+1 100.00
Format number as time Ctrl+Shift+2 Ctrl+Shift+2 5:00 AM
Format number as date Ctrl+Shift+3 Ctrl+Shift+3 12/25/2022
Format number as currency Ctrl+Shift+4 Ctrl+Shift+4 $100.00
Format number as percentage Ctrl+Shift+5 Ctrl+Shift+5 100%
Format number as exponent Ctrl+Shift+6 Ctrl+Shift+6 1.25E+06
  1. Find and Replace

Find (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F) is one of the most useful universal shortcuts ever to be invented. It exists not only in Google Sheets but also your browser, email, calendar, and most of your work apps.

If you aren’t already using it in Google Sheets, it helps you navigate by just typing words, phrases, or numbers from a page and highlights the result while also letting you hop to every instance.

Action Mac Windows PC
Find Cmd+F Ctrl+F
Find and Replace Cmd+Shift+H Ctrl+H

Now that was just the basic part. Doing Find and Replace is a different kind of beast that many long-time Sheets users aren’t using more of.

google sheet shortcut keys pdf

Find and replace is a powerful feature that allows you to substitute what you input in Find with your input in the Replace with field. To give you ideas on use cases for this feature, here are some scenarios and examples.

  • Revise spelling.
    • Misspelled customer or company names in your CRM,
  • Revising your vocabulary or terminology of choice.
    • Purple to lavender; freelancer to contractor;
  • Changing words due to regional differences like these US English to UK English examples:
    • color to color; gas to petrol; sedan to saloon; tires to tyres.
  • Replace identifying numbers like SKUs, product numbers, serial numbers, or other codes.
    • Change hex codes, hashtags, phone numbers, even email addresses, URLs
  • Replace a brand or company name with a new, different, or more appropriate one.
    • Google to Alphabet; Facebook to Meta; Figma to Adobe, etc

The possibilities with Find and replace are boundless and will definitely make it easier for you when the time comes you’d have to revise your spreadsheets.

  1. Open revision/version history

Remember Ctrl+S or Cmd+S for saving your spreadsheet? Seasoned Google Sheets and Docs users have forgotten about that shortcut already because it’s not necessary unless you’re working offline. Google Sheets is automatically saved to your Drive when you’re connected to the internet.

However, always-saved sessions could also make you wonder — what if you make a mistake and you forgot to undo (Cmd+Z or Ctrl+z) all the way? Or what if you accidentally deleted entire sections of your previous spreadsheet in error? Well, everyone makes mistakes! Thankfully the version history library is here and it’s one of the most underappreciated features within Google Sheets.

See also  Guide to Selecting the Correct Chart Type in Google Sheets

You can pull up the version history of your Sheets file and find all of the recorded edits made in the copy of your document. You’ll also see who made the edits, the timestamp, and which parts of the document were affected.

This shortcut can be a handful (four keys!) but mastering it and the underlying function can be very rewarding. Learn more about viewing Google Sheets file history in our in-depth article.

Action Mac Windows PC
See version history Option+Alt+Shift+H Ctrl+Alt+Shift+H

Note that to be able to see the version history, you must have at least Editor access for the file. Also, older and much bigger file histories could be merged occasionally by Google Sheets to save storage space which means the further back in time you go, the less granular the history may become.

  1. Insert Current Time or Date

There’s a shortcut for inserting the current time or date so you won’t have to type manually anymore.

For clarity, this shortcut uses the semicolon ( ; ) and a variety of other modifiers for both Mac and Windows.

Action Mac Windows PC Example
Insert current date Cmd+; Ctrl+; 12/01/2022
Insert current time Cmd+Shift+; Ctrl+Shift+; 12:00:00 PM
Insert current date and time Cmd+Shift+Option+; Ctrl+Shift+Alt+; 12/01/2022 12:00:00 PM

Please note that the actual output on the rightmost column depends on your default spreadsheet settings. Your region may have a different date and time format which you can change by going to File > Settings.

google sheet shortcut keys pdf 1

  1. Notes and Comments

These are shortcuts relevant to collaborating with your team. You need at least Commenter access to leave comments and Editor access to insert or edit notes.

Action Mac Windows PC
Insert or edit note Shift+Fn+F2 Shift+F2
Insert or edit comment Cmd+Option+M Ctrl+Alt+M
Open comment thread Cmd+Option+Shift+A Ctrl+Alt+Shift+A
Hide Comment Cmd+Alt+Shift+N Ctrl+Alt+Shift+N
Reply to current comment R R
Move to next comment J J
Move to previous comment K K
Resolve current comment E E
Exit current comment U U

Conclusion on Google Sheets Shortcuts You Must Know

There are hundreds of shortcuts you could use and master on Google Sheets. These are just a few curated ones that we’d love for you to start using now.

Don’t forget to use Ctrl+/ or Command+/ to display all the shortcuts available to you when you forget what you’ve learned here so you can become more productive on your day-to-day spreadsheet tasks.

google sheet shortcut keys pdf 2


Use FileDrop to Do Even More on Google Sheets

FileDrop is an add-on for Google Sheets, Docs, and Drive that you can install for free here. It’s a potent tool that unlocks file management, optical character recognition, and tighter Google Drive integration without leaving Sheets or Docs.

FileDrop’s core features include:

  • Insert PDF, images, or other files in cells
  • Add files from Google Drive do your Docs
  • Upload files from computer or URLs
  • Manage the attached files using File Library
  • Automatic file linking
  • Import tables from PDF
  • Extract text from PDF or images using optical character recognition (OCR)
  • Translate the extracted text to another language
  • And more + new features via our regular updates!

Try our limited free forever plan or subscribe now and unlock the entire set of features. Read more at GetFileDrop.com.

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