Check Out These Great Tricks and Shortcuts to Speed Up Data Entry in Microsoft Excel
by Avantix Learning Team | Updated April 5, 2021
Applies to: Microsoft® Excel® 2013, 2016, 2019 and 365 (Windows)
Check out these 10 great Excel data entry tricks and shortcuts in your Microsoft Excel workbooks.
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1. Enter data and keep the current cell selected
When you press Enter, Excel usually locks in the entry and moves the selection down one cell.
If you press Ctrl + Enter, Excel locks in the entry and keeps the current cell selected.
2. Edit directly in a cell
To edit directly in a cell rather than editing in the Formula Bar, double-click in the cell or press F2. Some users may need to press Fn + F2.
3. Fill or copy down
Instead of dragging the Fill or Autofill pointer on the bottom corner of a cell to copy down, select the cell you want to copy and the range below where you want to copy the data or formula and press Ctrl + D to fill or copy down.
4. Fill or copy to the right
Instead of dragging the Fill or Autofill pointer on the bottom corner of a cell to copy to the right, select the cell you want to copy and the range to the right where you want to copy the data or formula and press Ctrl + R to fill or copy to the right.
5. Copy from the cell above
To copy the data or formula from the cell above, press Ctrl + ‘ (apostrophe) or Ctrl + D.
6. Copy the value only from the cell above
To copy the value only (not the formula) from the cell above, press Ctrl + Shift + ‘ (apostrophe).
7. Enter the current date
To enter the current date in a cell, press Ctrl + ; (semi-colon).
8. Enter the current time
To enter the current time in a cell, press Ctrl + Shift + ; (semi-colon).
9. Enter data in multiple cells at the same time
To enter data in multiple cells at the same time:
- Select the cells (you could Ctrl + click on multiple non-contiguous cells to select them).
- Enter the data you wish to enter in the selected cells in the Formula Bar or the active cell.
- Press Ctrl + Enter.
10. Enter data in multiple blank cells at the same time
To enter data in multiple blank cells at the same time:
- Select the range of cells containing blanks.
- Press Ctrl + G to display the Go To dialog box.
- Click on Special to display the Go to Special dialog box.
- Select Blank Cells.
- Click on OK.
- Enter the data you wish to enter in the blank cells in the Formula Bar or the active cell.
- Press Ctrl + Enter.
Below is the Go to Special dialog box:
Every Excel user should know these 10 useful data entry tricks and shortcuts.
This article was first published on February 23, 2017 and has been updated for clarity and content.
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More resources
How to Use Flash Fill in Excel to Clean or Extract Data (Beginner’s Guide)
How to Convert Text to Numbers in Excel
How to Quickly Fill in Missing Values from the Cell Above in Excel
Related courses
Microsoft Excel: Intermediate / Advanced
Microsoft Excel: Data Analysis with Functions, Dashboards and What-If Analysis Tools
Microsoft Excel: Introduction to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)
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