Last week I listed a few tricks with the Shift key in Excel, and in the comments, Jon Peltier mentioned a trick he’d discovered with the Ctrl key. Here are a few more things you can do with the Ctrl key in Excel.

There are many other Ctrl tricks, so if you have favourites, please share them in the comments.

Select Nonadjacent Ranges

This is my favourite use of the Ctrl key — to select nonadjacent ranges. For example:

1. Click on cell A1 to select it
2. Press the Ctrl key, and click on cell A5, then click on cell B3
3. Release the Ctrl key, and all three cells are selected, with B3 as the active cell.

Enter Data in Several Cells

After you’ve selected several cells, adjacent or nonadjacent, you can enter the same data or formula in all of them

1. Select the cells, and type the data or a formula.
2. Press the Ctrl key, then tap the Enter key, to enter the data or formula in all the selected cells

Show the Active Cell

Sometimes I scroll to the bottom or far side of a worksheet, to view something, then want to get back to the active cell quickly.

• To show the active cell, press Ctrl + Backspace

Select Precendent Cells

If you’re analyzing a formula, you might want to go to the precedent cells — those cells that are used in the current cell’s formula.

• Select a cell with a formula that refers to other cells
• Press Ctrl + [

The first cell referenced in the formula will be the active cell, and other referenced cells on the same sheet will be selected.

Filed under: Excel, Keyboard Shortcuts