Few weeks back I have invited all of you to share your excel keyboard shortcuts in a open thread. More than 50 people commented on that post and shared a hundred excel keyboard shortcuts with us. There were so many wonderful keyboard shortcuts and tricks buried in the comments section of that post. During the weekend, I spent sometime to collect all these beautiful shortcuts and arranged them neatly so that you can easily learn them. Here is the complete list of Excel Keyboard Shortcuts.
Special thanks to all the commenters on the original post. Without you I couldn’t have learned these shortcuts.

Here is the complete list of excel keyboard shortcuts.
- Shortcuts for Selection
- Shortcuts for Editing
- Shortcuts for Navigation
- Shortcuts for Formatting
- Shortcuts for Formulas
- Shortcuts for Excel Options
- Shortcuts for Auto Complete
- Shortcuts for Everything Else
Note: I have *ed some of the most important shortcuts. These are very useful and extremely time saving ones. You may want to remember a few to boost your productivity.
| Select the whole column
Selection
|
| Select the whole row
Selection
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| Select table
Selection
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| Save
Selection
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| Select visible cells only
Selection
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| Select entire region
Selection
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| Select range from start cell to far left
Selection
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| Select range from start cell to end in direction of arrow
Selection
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| Select a continuous range of data (e.g. pivot), no matter where your cursor is.
Selection
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| Select blank cells
Selection
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| Select all cells with comments
Selection
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| Select all cells that are directly or indirectly referred to by formulas in the selection
Selection
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| Select all cells with formulas that refer directly or indirectly to the active cell
Selection
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| Selects all the way to a1 from cursor position
Selection
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| Select cells in the direction of arrow
Selection
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| Previous sheet
Navigation
|
| Next sheet
Navigation
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| Launch GO TO Dialog (from here you can select special or jump to a cell or range)
Navigation
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| Go to top left (will go to top left of freezed pane if set)
Navigation
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| Go to last non-blank cell
Navigation
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| Go to previous sheet
Navigation
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| Go to next sheet
Navigation
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| Print
Navigation
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| Toggle between workbooks in a given session of excel.
Navigation
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| Change the type of cell reference from relative to absolute or semi-absolute
Formulas
|
| Repeat whatever you did last
Formulas
|
| Debug portions of a formula (select and press)
Formulas
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| Sum range
Formulas
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| Enter array formula
Formulas
|
| Select array formula range
Formulas
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| Display range names (can be used when typing formulas)
Formulas
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| Evaluate formulas. (its easy to remember when working with some “tuf” formulas!)
Formulas
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| Copy a formula from above cell and edit
Formulas
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| Display the formula palette after you type a valid function name in a formula
Formulas
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| Alternate between displaying cell values and displaying cell formulas
Formulas
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| Calculate formulas
Formulas
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| Select all precedent cells
Formulas
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| Select all dependent cells
Formulas
|
| Format Selection (cells, objects, charts)
Formatting
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| Bold a cell’s content
Formatting
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| Format Painter – Paste formats from selection
Formatting
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| Format as number with 2 dp
Formatting
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| Format as local currency
Formatting
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| Format as percentage with 0 dp
Formatting
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| Hide row
Formatting
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| Hide column
Formatting
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| Unhide row
Formatting
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| Unhide column
Formatting
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| Display the style command format menu
Formatting
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| Sets/removes strikeout in current cell
Formatting
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| Show/hide the top bar when you have a group
Formatting
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| Single border around selected cells
Formatting
|
| Sort
Formatting
|
| Insert hyperlink
Formatting
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| Freeze panes
Formatting
|
| Remove grid lines or (alt+t)ov(alt+g)[enter]
Formatting
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| To wrap lines
Formatting
|
| Save as
Excel Options
|
| Collapse the ribbon (press again to expand)
Excel Options
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| Opens print preview
Excel Options
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| Maximize the current window
Excel Options
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| Activate next window
Excel Options
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| Activate previous window
Excel Options
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| Close an excel workbook
Excel Options
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| Split screens
Excel Options
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| Create a pivot table in new sheet (of course after selecting the range)
Everything Else
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| Create a pivot table in the same sheet.
Everything Else
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| Show visual basic editor
Everything Else
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| Macro dialog
Everything Else
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| Apply/remove filter
Everything Else
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| Keep filter on columns, but show all rows
Everything Else
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| Insert pivot table
Everything Else
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| Turn filter on or off
Everything Else
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| Paste values only
Editing
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| Edit a cell, place cursor at the end
Editing
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| Show in-cell drop down with previously entered values
Editing
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| Fills down value from cell above
Editing
|
| Add a comment or Edit comment
Editing
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| Insert new sheet
Editing
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| Insert row
Editing
|
| Delete row
Editing
|
| Copy
Editing
|
| Paste
Editing
|
| Cut
Editing
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| Undo
Editing
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| Get a line break inside the cell
Editing
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| Clear all contents
Editing
|
| Copy
Editing
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| Paste
Editing
|
| Make chart/pivot chart
Editing
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| Edit a cell in Apple Macs
Editing
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| Copy the value from the cell above the active cell into the cell or the formula bar
Editing
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| Copies whatever is in the cell to the left of it.
Editing
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| Delete box (cell, row, column)
Editing
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| Insert box (cell, row, column)
Editing
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| Enter current date
Auto Complete
|
| Enter current time
Auto Complete
|
Thanks to the contributors
Here is a list of people who contributed these shortcuts.
Vipul, Dau, Stružák, Paul, Eliavs, Pavel S, Fabrice, Noone, Clarity, Jp, Pascal, Jair, Yoav, Nimesh, Bill, Patricia, Mike, Iesmatauw, Chrisham, Harvey, Pranav, Rohit Choudhary, Rohit1409, Rickard, Sachin, Gerald Higgins, Ericlind, Zzz, Felipe, Sridhar, Halva, Catherine, Lavkesh Bhatia, Rick Rothstein, Vishal Haria, Ak, Daniel Ferry, Mehdi Raza.
Thank you 🙂
Share your shortcuts
I know this post is unusally lengthy. But I wanted the list to be as comprehensive as possible. If you know some shortcuts that are not listed, please share them using comments. 🙂














15 Responses to “Modeling Interest During Construction (IDC) – Excel Project Finance”
Thanks again for a very helpful post.
I had a similar problem when trying to model a balance sheet and profit and loss projection. The problem was that interest expense (in P&L) was dependent on a cash shortfall (in BS) which had to be funded. The cash shortfall depended on how much interest was paid, so the mutual dependency made a circular reference.
I addressed it with a macro that calculated interest outside of the P&L, then pasted the calculated amount into the P&L as a value. The model was out of balance, but by repeating the pasting and calculating loop the imbalance reduced to zero. It was a bit messy, and had to be repeated every time a line changed - but it worked.
If I have to do it again I'll read this article again first and see if it can be done more elegantly.
Hi,
The use of a circular reference can be avoided in this case. Just make use of the geometric sum to calculate the interest required. I’ll walk through the example from the spreadsheet.
First calculate the cash needed each year without the interest expense. So you year 1 you need 55 Mn, year 2 105 Mn, and 190 Mn for year 3. The total amount to borrow for year 1 is then (50 Mn)/(1-interest_rate) = (50)/(1-0.1). For years 2 and subsequent the amount borrowed is the cash needed in that year plus the interest_rate times the amount already borrowed. For year 2 (105 + interest_rate * sum(previous debt raised))/(1-interest_rate)=(105+0.1*61.1)/(1-0.1).
This process avoids the need for a circular reference, and makes the calculation more stable.
Thanks,
Tristan
The question is for the year 1 in your case, the amount works out to 45 mn. However in the year 2 you have applied the loan amount as 61.1 mn.
Am I missing something ! Please help !
very helpful information!!!
using circular references and to make model more stable we can use combination of "IF" and "ISERROR" functions. i.e
=if(iserror(formula1),"",(formula1))
this formula will return blank value if there is any error otherwise give the result required.
I usually use this in my models and it makes them very stable......
🙂 🙂 🙂
@Terry: Thats right. Exactly same problem is seen in Interest - Cash cycle in P&L and Cash Flow statement as well. In our trainings on financial modeling in excel, we demonstrate using both the circular loops as well as the macros to take care of this problem. Circular loops have their own pitfalls. If the model enters into a state of error, the error percolates!
@Tristan: Thanks for pointing out. I agree with you that if circular loops can be avoided, they should be avoided.
@Yogesh: This is one way of avoiding the problem. Although circular loops have another problem that they make your sheet slower. Each time, there is a change in the sheet, all the calculations are redone. So if they can be avoided, they should be avoided.
Please note that this was an example (a large one indeed) and I didn't have space to speak about the pitfalls of this approach! I just wanted to illustrate an approach and am glad that some of you found it useful!
I think while posting, there is an error in the images! The last image should be flipped with the one that is posted in step VII!
I think you can try the following simple solution given by Microsoft itself to make the circular works:
Windows: Excel Options -> Formulas -> Put a tick on "Enable iterative calculation"
Mac: Excel -> Preference -> Calculation ->Put a tick on "Limit iteration"
You can change the maximum number of calculation iterations as well as the maximum changes which iteration stops for goal seeking or for resolving circular references based on the number you type in the maximum change box.
Thank you.
Hey All
I heard that we can take care of the circularity with the help of macro for IDC. Can anybody help on the steps to construct the macro for the same.
Regards
Vinay
Hi Vinay,
If you look closely, you are essentially copying the values from the interest calculation to the IDC in project cost.
Basically you can record a macro, that takes the values from interest and pastes special the values in IDC row in project cost.
Then you can run that recorded code in a for loop.
Hope this helps.
Thanks Param for reply.
But before calculating interest, i need to provide for Upfront Equity and Equity, which are essentially part of total project cost. Hence, i need to put in Upfront Equity and Equity to calculate the IDC which is again hitting the total project cost.
Bit of confused on how to remove this circular reference.
Regards
Vinay
Wow, this was a brilliantly simple post. I was looking online for a while before I found this page. Never seen this been explained so beautifully yet so crisply before. Thanks for saving my ass at work! (i'm relatively new to finance + modeling)
I'm not sure why but this web site is loading very slow for
me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a problem on my end?
I'll check back later and see if the problem still exists.
[…] Project Finance Modeling using Excel – Part 1 & Part 2 […]
I have been reading your blog since my college days. Today, I'm writing just to say thanks.
We have calculated Financial Rate of return of a hydropower projects, and the observer has raised an observation regarding Total Project cost with IDC Rs. 8616.01 million (PKR) and with-out IDC 8352.46 million (PKR). How does the Financial nalysis be calculated on the basis of with-out IDC Or With IDC?????
Please helpf. if possible to spare some time.