Do you know these Double-click Tricks in Excel?
Most of us think of mastering formulas, learning macros and being supergood with charts when we think of being productive with spreadsheets. But often learning simple stuff like keyboard shortcuts, using mouse and working with menus and ribbons can be a huge productivity booster for us. So as part of this installment of spreadcheats we will learn 7 very cool and effective double click tricks in excel. (as an aside, try saying double click tricks several times faster…
)
Double Click on the Office Button / Logo to Close Excel

This is simple. Displays “do you want to save…” dialog if the workbook is not saved.
Adjust column widths by selecting multiple columns and double clicking on the separators

This is my favorite. You can use the same trick to adjust row heights too.
Double-click in the corner, just above scroll-bar to include a split

It is surprising that very few people know about split and freeze panes feature in excel. I have often seen colleagues struggling to freeze top row of a large workbook or include a split so that they can see 2 different things at a time.
You can also create a vertical split by clicking on the little bar shape next to horizontal scroll-bar near bottom right corner of the excel window.
(If you are wondering where the split would be created, it will be created at selected cell’s row (or column))
Double click on ribbon menu names to collapse ribbon to get more space

In MS Office 2007 you can double click on the ribbon menus to collapse the ribbon to one line. In Excel 2003, when you double click on the empty space in the toolbar area, it opens up the “customize” window (same as Menu > tools > customize)
Auto-fill a series of cells with data or formulas by just double clicking

I have saved countless minutes ever since I learned this little trick. Lets say you have a table where in one column you have some data and in the next you have written a formula in the first row. Now how would you copy the formula and paste it in all cells in that column?
Copy the formula (ctrl+c), select all cells, paste the formula.
Well, no more. Just select the formula in first cell, double click in the bottom right corner and see the magic.
The trick works for formulas, auto-fills (of numbers, dates, what not) as long as the adjacent column has data.
Jump to last row / column in table with double-click

Just select any cell in the table and double click on the cell-border in the direction you want to go. See the screencast.
Lock a particular feature and reuse them with double-click

You can lock any repeatable feature (like format painter, drawing connectors, shapes etc.) by just double clicking on the icon (in Excel 2007 this works for format painter, but for drawing shapes you need to right click and select lock drawing mode). This can save you a ton of time when you need to repeat same action several times.
Now its time to test your clicking skills
Try clicking on these: excel keyboard shortcuts, excel mouse tips & tricks, excel productivity tips part 1 & part 2
ok, I am kidding, but you get the point.
What is your favorite double-click-trick?
tell me please…
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Oh dear god! 9 o’clock in the morning and I’ve already learned about 3 new hitns. :-O Evertytime I start thinking that I know Excel quite well, somebody posts a article and persuades me that I do NOT.
Btw, I use the mouse also to minimize and maximize the Excel window by double-clicking on the top of the window. Might be useful for somebody although it’s a well known trick.
Almost I use the Auto-fill to copy data on my work.
Thanks.
Since I found you can do it, I always double-click on a worksheet tab to rename it rather than right-click, select rename – much faster.
i have learnt “Jump to last row / column in table with double-click ” very first time. All the others tricks are in used.
May i request to put more such tricks which increase the productivity of the works. Many of such trocks have been informed by many users in comment forum. Also, new one will be posted by the users.
May i request to put all such tricks with appropriate heading and post for ever. All the new tricks will be put in the same post. Pls expore the possibility.
Thnx
I like the menu collapse trick. Nifty one that!
Favourite double-click…well…has to be the column width one then.
The “Jump to last row / column” is definitely my LEAST favorite double-click-trick – if I’m not accurate when double clicking a cell for in-cell-editing, this “trick” takes me places I don’t want to go, often far away from the cell I was working with, requiring a few seconds for finding my way back.
Does anyone know how to disable this “trick”?
Ooh, jump to last row is new to me ! That probably explains some of the random cursor movements I sometimes get
I am always amazed at what I can learn about a product I thought I knew much about. I most appreciate the minimizing the ribbon as I like to keep that out of the way most of the time.
One other double-click trick I use (and I learned this from a co-worker/faculty-member here at WCU) easily selecting words. If you have multiple words you need to select, double-click on the first word and then (while keeping the mouse button pressed) drag to select the remaining words. This works in many different apps, not just Excel. Hope this is helpful to someone.
Regarding the trick “Adjust column widths by selecting multiple columns and double clicking on the separators”, it’s also my favorite one and what I usually do is click the corner cell (without row & column name) then the whole sheet is selected, then double click the column separator or row separator. You will ahve each column or row coverred.
If you double click on a pivot table on any Data Cell (not on the column headings or row headings) a new Tab is created that includes only the data behind that number.
I use that a lot, is kind of a drill to detail functionality.
Great Site, Great Tips!
Thanks
Using a mouse with excel? Ha–peons!
As a follow up:
Adjust column widths by selecting multiple columns and double clicking on the separators
Alt-O-C-A
Double-click in the corner, just above scroll-bar to include a split
Alt-W-S
Auto-fill a series of cells with data or formulas by just double clicking
Ctrl+D
Jump to last row / column in table with double-click
Crtl+Right, Crtl+Down
Lock a particular feature and reuse them with double-click
1.) Copy (Crtl+C)
2.) Paste Formats (Alt-E-S-T)
Jakob,
This won’t disable the double-click to get to the end trick, but instead of double clicking to edit a cell’s contents, (I always have my left hand on the keyboard when mousing) I simply hit the F2 key to edit a cell.
That has helped me to prevent the problem you mention (accidently clicking the border and selecting a diff cell)
The Adjust column widths by selecting multiple columns and double clicking on the separators works in Open Office too! thanks for a useful tip
If the check box “Edit directly in cell”, in Tools.. Options.. Edit, is ticked, then double-clicking on a cell opens it for editing directly in the cell. I prefer to leave it unticked and use F2 to edit in the formula bar.
But if “Edit directly in cell” is unticked, then double-clicking on a cell selects all the cells in the current sheet that are referenced by the cell, for tabbing through and editing, just like Ctrl-[, provided the first reference is in the same sheet. If the first reference is in another sheet or another open workbook, double-clicking goes there instead. This is great for diagnostics and debugging.
Double click on an embedded object (a shape or a chart element) to bring up the Format (This Object) dialog. Very helpful, and saves lots of time, so I guess that’s why they removed it from Excel 2007.
Highlight an entire table by clicking on any cell within the table and then press Ctrl + Shift + 8
About the auto-fill trick- this works with formulas too, however the dealbreaker was that it auto-incremented cell references too.
Until I learned another trick- when making a cell reference you don’t want to change, use a dollar sign to prefix the bit you want to keep the same e.g. $A$6 will never change the reference to cell A6.
some really useful tips,
i never knew theres a split option available,
and these are really very useful and will save alot of time
My favorite tip:
Auto-fill a series of cells with data or formulas by just double clicking
Very cool! I knew most of them, but there were 2 I hadn’t seen yet – the double-clicking to keep features on looks especially useful! No more going to the top to click again after I already just clicked.
Thanx for putting this up here.
@All.. thanks alot for sharing your favorite tips. Keep them coming. I will update the post with all these tips in the next week.
@Jakob: I am not sure how we can disable this trick. May be a workaround could be reduce the double click speed from mouse options in control panel. But this will affect the overall double-click performance. Also, see EEJ’s comments above.
@Ryan: I believe there is nothing wrong with using mouse with excel. Our objective is to get things done with least effort. There are a ton of things for which keyboard is very good. But there are a whole bunch of things that, if you use mouse, are damn easy to do. For. eg. the locking a feature for repeated use thing is practically not possible with keyboard. Of course format painter works as a case of paste special, but there are others that will not work that easy.
@JD: you can learn more about absolute vs. relative reference in formulas in the very first installment of spreadcheats here: http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/11/04/relative-absolute-references-in-formulas/
ya! very useful tips ,thanks for share~!
wow,. thanks for sharing
Hello,
All of them but mostly is “Adjust column widths by selecting multiple columns and double clicking on the separators”
Many Thanks as much as every hint
Regarding “Jump to last row / column in table with double-click”:-
Contrary to the general belief that Ctrl+up /down/left/right is always user friendly, there are certain advantages of using the double clicking trick on the edges of a cell:
1) if you use ctrl+down/right in a blank column / row, it will take you to last cell of the respective column / row which is very irritating sometimes, whereas if you double click the edges of any cell and if there is no non-blank cell in the column/row henceforward your cursor will not be moved
2) if there are blank cells around the selected cell and if you double click the edge, the cursor moves to the blank cell immediately preceding the next non-blank cell.
Great tricks, I have to use the mouse more…
Off-topic: Which animated gif-maker did you use for creating the (very effective) demos?
@Thomas: Thanks, I use camtasia studio 6 for making the demos. It is a fine software…
If you were truly efficient in excel, you wouldn’t use the mouse – you would use just the keyboard to get around. The mouse just wastes time.
jrl – Different people have different styles. If all you’re doing is navigating a worksheet and entering data and formulas, keyboard shortcuts are probably the way to go. If you’re using higher powers of thought and analysis, the rate limiting step isn’t keyboard vs. mouse, it’s neuron to neuron communication within the cerebral cortex.
I’m a reformed Mac user, so I use the mouse a lot, but I also grew up on a varied assortment of pre-PC boxes in the lab. So I’m probably a strong mix of mouse and keyboard.
@JRL: there is nothing wrong with using mouse. There is a reason for its existence and as smart users, we should try to exploit it as much as we would use keyboard. I used to be an avid keyboard only user, but I have learned that mixing mouse with keyboard can yield better productivity.
Excel has emerged from a simple spreadsheet software to a more complicated modeling, planning, tracking and ofcourse spreadsheeting software. There are a ton of functionalities that take forever to do using KB, but happen with a click.
Mouse? I’m typing this with my nose. Granted, other people in the internet cafe are giving me funny looks.
Whoops, just sneezed. Damn swine flu…
I have my mouse wheel set to page down and page up when I click it to the left or right. Holding ctrl and using this in Excel means I can quickly get around the workbook when using my mouse.
As a bonus, it also works to switch between tabs in Firefox.
Can anyone tell me how to switch between worksheets without a mouse?
NEVERMIND i’ve figured it out
cntrl + page up/down
@E, When I use Ctrl + page up/down it jumps to the next cell up, down or sideways ?? I would like to go to the next sheet. Must be some setting to turn off or on ?? Any ideas ??
A shortcut or neat trick I use is when you want to delete a collection of data – select the area of data to be deleted then ..
Alt+H+E+C .. gone .. what the HEC !
Hi
Can anybody say me jow can I use “Auto-fill a series of cells with data or formulas by just double clicking” for rows????? any help thank you all
@Manoochehr: This is useful when you have formula (or values) in one of the adjacent columns and would like to auto-fill values. Just enter the first 2 values / formulas and select the 2 cells. Now double click on the cell bottom border and excel auto-fills the values / formulas for the entire column. See screencast in the post.
@Chandoo,
Thank you for your reply, but I am looking for doing that for rows not for the columns. For Columns double click on the down right black point will work but what about autofilling in the rows? I tried but it did not work.
Thank you,
@Manoochehr: We’ve been asking for years and years, but there is still no way to autofill sideways, only down. With the much wider sheets in 2007, this would be a very useful addition, wouldn’t it?
@Jon @Manoochehr …here’s a possible work around.
If you select the cell that you want to copy sideways, then hold down Cntl + Shift + Left arrow, then you will have selected a row of cells either to the edge of the data in the row above, or to the edge of the spreadsheet.
If you then hit F2, and then Cntl + Enter, your formula will be filled across.
@Manoochehr: I misunderstood your request. As Jon pointed out, auto fill has this limitation. How-ever you can autofill sideways by selecting the range where you want to autofill (ie the row) and then pressing CTRL+R (or ALT+HFIR in excel 2007) to autofill right side and ALT+HFIL for autofilling left.
You can also follow Jeff’s suggestion.
Good excel 2007 tip, Chandoo. You could also add the fill icon to your Quick Action Toolbar if you struggle to remember the shortcut.
@ Chandoo, Jeff, Jon
Thank you all, but I cant underestand what (HFIR) in (ALT+HFIR) mean in excel 2007?
Hi Manoochehr. Press Alt then press the H key then the F key then the I key then the R key one at a time. This is just a long-winded keyboard shortcut, really.
Thank you all for nice tricks,
Let me jump to another subject. Do you think that plotting contours in excel be possible??? I looked at the excel template but it was not possible to plot contours… anybody got an idea?
Thanks,
Manoochehr
Manoochehr – can you elaborate on what you mean by ‘plotting contours’?
@ Jeff,
In contours we have 3 series of data such as x, y, z. where x,y are for example locations and z could be weather forecasting data. following link will show a picture of what I mean.
http://gri.sourceforge.net/gridoc/html/example5.png
Thank you,
Manoochehr: I think it is possible to do this, as long as you have x and y data for each pressure band. But I don’t think it would be easy to get excel to intelligently apply the different data points. Were you wanting to do this for weather maps or some other work purpose, or were you just curious whether excel could do this? Do you have any sample data you could post anywhere?
Regards
Jeff
GOOD TRIKS & INTERSTING IDEA . SO VERY MUCH THANKS. ANIL CHOUDHARY
@Anil.. thank you