Keyboard Shortcuts, Terminology, and Ninja Tips Part-4

Keyboard Shortcuts

Windows Shortcuts: Microsoft Office Support pages | Mac Shortcuts: Microsoft Office Support pages

CTRL + 0 (CMD + 0) -- Hide the column containing the selected cell.

CTRL + 9 (CMD + 9) -- Hide the row containing the selected cell.

CTRL + SHIFT + 0 (CMD + SHIFT + 0) -- Unhide the column containing the selected cell. (Select cells surrounding hidden column) In some versions of Windows, this shortcut is assigned to a Windows feature. If you have difficulty getting this keyboard shortcut to work you should follow the instructions in this article to disable the shortcut for that feature.

CTRL + SHIFT + 9 (CMD + SHIFT + 9) -- Unhide the row containing the selected cell. (Select cells surrounding hidden row)

CTRL + SHIFT + L (CMD + SHIFT + F) -- Add or remove a filter

Excel Terminology

Filter

Applying a filter to a column (or columns) quickly displays only those rows that contain the information you are looking for. There are three different ways to access the filter tool: the right-click context menu, the Home tab, or the Data tab. The filter tool allows you to control the data that is displayed on your screen. Any data contained in rows that don't meet the selected criteria will remain hidden as long as the filter is applied. Once the filter is cleared, the data display will return back to normal.

Sorting

The Sorting tool helps you to arrange your data in a specific order. There are three different ways to access the sorting tool: the right-click context menu, the Home tab, or the Data tab. The sorting tool is quite powerful and allows you to sort by multiple levels, match case and sort from left to right as well as from top to bottom. When you want to sort your data, simply click anywhere in your data set and then open up Sorting.

Conditional Formatting

At its most basic, Conditional Formatting allows you to automatically apply formatting whenever certain criteria are met. Access the tool in the Styles group on the Home tab once you have selected the data you want to format conditionally. There are a number of options available:

Conditional formatting is a great tool with lots of versatile use cases. The formatting updates dynamically based on new values entered which make it super-useful.

Ninja Tip of the Week

Conditional Formatting vs. Filtering

They both let you show data based on specific criteria or conditions. Why would you choose one over the other?

Filtering will only show data that matches the criteria. You can provide multiple filters, but only data that matches all conditions will be visible.

Conditional formatting will show data that fits any of the conditions chosen. It also provides more visual and graphical elements.