Okay, this is a cop-out, but I have been busy and not-in-a-mood-for-writing in the last 2 days. (I don’t know, but I feel a bit low, may be it is all the snow around and constant work due to excel school and day job).
So, let us have an open thread on Excel Shortcuts. I will start by listing down all the excel keyboard shortcuts I use regularly,
- CTRL+1: open format dialog. I use this to set borders, fills, cell-formats, alignment etc.
- F4: while editing formulas, to change the type of cell reference from relative to absolute or semi-absolute.
- F4: to repeat last action, like adding rows or adjusting formats.
- ALT+ESV : Paste Special > Values only. I use this to paste values alone. Helps me remove formulas, formatting etc.
- CTRL+Arrow Keys: To navigate to last cell in a row, column, first cell in a row, column. These let me go where I want.
- F2: Edit a cell, places cursor at the end. Very easy to edit.
- ALT+Down arrow: Shows a small in-cell drop down with previously entered values, Useful when I am typing some data.
- CTRL+D: fills down.
- F9: When debugging formulas, I can select a portion of the formula and press F9 to see the result of that. VERY VERY Useful..
- SHIFT+F2: Add a comment or Edit comment. Useful to add cell-comments so that my colleagues can take note of certain cells.
- CTRL+B: Bold a cell’s content. Useful to add emphasis.
- ALT+EST: Works like format painter
Now your turn…
Please use comments and share the shortcuts you use on regular basis. Let us make this the biggest thread (and page) on excel short cuts…
Previously on keyboard shortcuts & mouse shortcuts.
11 Responses to “Fix Incorrect Percentages with this Paste-Special Trick”
I've just taught yesterday to a colleague of mine how to convert amounts in local currency into another by pasting special the ROE.
great thing to know !!!
Chandoo - this is such a great trick and helps save time. If you don't use this shortcut, you have to take can create a formula where =(ref cell /100), copy that all the way down, covert it to a percentage and then copy/paste values to the original column. This does it all much faster. Nice job!
I was just asking peers yesterday if anyone know if an easy way to do this, I've been editing each cell and adding a % manually vs setting the cell to Percentage for months and just finally reached my wits end. What perfect timing! Thanks, great tip!
If it's just appearance you care about, another alternative is to use this custom number format:
0"%"
By adding the percent sign in quotes, it gets treated as text and won't do what you warned about here: "You can not just format the cells to % format either, excel shows 23 as 2300% then."
Dear Jon S. You are the reason I love the internet. 3 year old comments making my life easier.
Thank you.
Here is a quicker protocol.
Enter 10000% into the extra cell, copy this cell, select the range you need to convert to percentages, and use paste special > divide. Since the Paste > All option is selected, it not only divides by 10000% (i.e. 100), it also applies the % format to the cells being pasted on.
@Martin: That is another very good use of Divide / Multiply operations.
@Tony, @Jody: Thank you 🙂
@Jon S: Good one...
@Jon... now why didnt I think of that.. Excellent
Thank You so much. it is really helped me.
Big help...Thanks
Thanks. That really saved me a lot of time!
Is Show Formulas is turned on in the Formula Ribbon, it will stay in decimal form until that is turned off. Drove me batty for an hour until I just figured it out.