Hello everyone. Stop reading further and go fetch your helmet. Because what lies ahead is mind-blowingly awesome.
About a month and half ago, we held our annual dashboard contest. This time the theme is to visualize state to state migration in USA. You can find the contest data-set & details here.
We received 49 outstanding entries for this. Most of the entries are truly inspiring. They are loaded with powerful analysis, stunning visualizations, amazing display of Excel skill and design finesse. It took me almost 2 weeks to process the results and present them here.
But first, let me apologize
Each of our contest participants spent a lot of time crafting their files. But due to unforeseen personal work, I could not set aside time to process the entries until last week of May. I sincerely apologize for taking this much time to showcase the entries.
What about the winners?
This week our panel of judges will be reviewing these 49 entries. Next week we will share short-listed entries for public voting. Once the voting is complete, we will declare the winner. This process should be completed with-in 2 weeks.
How to read this post?
This is a fairly large post. If you are reading this in email or news-reader, it may not look properly. Click here to read it on chandoo.org.
- Each entry is shown in a box with the contestant’s name on top. Entries are shown in alphabetical order of contestant’s name.
- You can see a snapshot of the entry and more thumbnails below.
- The thumb-nails are click-able. So that you can enlarge and see the details.
- You can download the contest entry workbook, see & play with the files.
- You can read my comments at the bottom. The comments are in 2 sections – what is good, what can be improved.
- Please take my comments on “what can be improved” lightly. I do not mean to offend any of the contestants.
- At the bottom of the box, you can find links to the key techniques used. Click on them to learn more.
Thank you
Thank you very much for all the participants in this contest. I have thoroughly enjoyed exploring your work & learned a lot from them. I am sure you had fun creating these too.
So go ahead and enjoy the entries.
PS: We had to disqualify 2-3 entries due to errors in VBA code or inability to open the file.
Migration Dashboard by Aditya Canay
What is good:
- Good colors
- Easy to understand (built in help sheet as well)
- Interactive. Can ask questions & get answers
- Interesting facts & overall summary on top
What can be improved:
- Summary on top is static. It would be better to depend on year or state selected.
- State selection is clumsy. Could have used Active-x combo box or slicer
- Donut chart is not the best choice.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Aditya Srinivaasan
What is good:
- Simple and easy on eyes
- Form controls with auto complete (Active-x combos)
- Added data on Cost of living, Crime rate & Tax rate. Helps understand what may have caused the migration.
What can be improved:
- Missing overall summary or header.
- Logarithmic scale on population breakup chart. Makes it unclear.
- Not sure which year’s data population distribution chart shows.
- Crime rate indexation assume same weightage for all crimes. Could have used a better measure.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Amit Ajmera
What is good:
- Comprehensive dashboard with lots of detail
- Analysis of individual state, comparison with another state and overall trends
- Interactive. Can ask questions & get answers
- Analysis of any year or average of all 3.
- Shows a map of selected state.
What can be improved:
- Could use subtle and better colors. Also apply consistent colors.
- Alignment is off in few places.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Arnaud Duigou
What is good:
- Clickable map to drill down to a state
- Overall statistics vs. Individual state focus
- Interactive. Can ask questions & get answers
- Interesting facts & overall summary on top
- Built-in help bubbles (that can be toggled)
- Analysis on factors for migration (by using additional data like per-capita income, unemployment rate and weather conditions)
What can be improved:
- Not sure how the tool tips button is supposed to work.
- Alignment is off in few places.
- Switching between state view & overall heatmaps seems clumsy. Also, the state selection combo box on top feels redundant
- Colors & fonts can be improved. Feels like too many of them are used.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Biju Chacko
What is good:
- Simple charts with easy to understand colors
- Interactive charts to see migration trends per year
What can be improved:
- Could use a summary on top and few other metrics
- Bar charts have non-zero axis. Creates false impression
- Alignment can be improved. Lots of empty spaces that can be filled with useful insights.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Celso Garcia
What is good:
- Clickable map to drill down to a state
- Color coded map & bar chart for easy interpretation
- Form controls to select year
What can be improved:
- Could use a header with summary statistics
- Map and bar chart represent the same data. Could have used other metrics in the bar chart to give more insights
Techniques used:
Become Awesome in Excel & VBA – Create dashboards like these…
My comments:
- Learn how to create interactive dashboards & reports using Excel
- Develop your own macros & VBA code
- 50+ hours of video training
- Learn at your own pace
- Click here to know more
Migration Dashboard by Cesarino Rua
What is good:
- Map with details on hover!
- Lots of details for selected state, include flag of the state, important cities etc.
What can be improved:
- Some of the tables feel like orphans. Could use titles (and overall summary or title or both)
- The bar chart on right is just repetition of data in the last of column of table before that. Could have used this space for something else.
- Feels like too much data. Need to zoom down to 80% to see everything. Consider using form controls or something else to make it easy on eyes.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Chris Newman
What is good:
- Clear, dashboard style output with details in big fonts.
- Details of migration combined with political tastes of the state.
- Slicers for selecting year
- Good choice of colors, good alignment and layout.
- Built-in help bubbles
What can be improved:
- Poor choice of conditional formatting databar on top. Could have used regular bar chart with 0 axis.
- Giving a choice of additional measures could have added detail to state view.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Daniel Dion
What is good:
- Clickable map to drill down to a state
- Also, slicers to select a state
- Ability to select year, type of metric (leaving, entering, net gain) to view for the selected state.
What can be improved:
- Too many scrollbars. Especially both slicer & clickable map serve the same purpose. So, could have removed the slicer.
- The listing of states & column chart beneath the map are same data. Again this space could have been used for other insights.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by David Hoppe
What is good:
- Map with vectors indicating the movement
- Multiple statistics and ability to switch them (and years)
- Ability to analyze by absolute or relative population
- Slicers for selecting state (or region or division)
- Simple, clean layout with good colors and beautiful presentation
What can be improved:
- Could have added help or instructions
- Could have removed either region or division slicer (as they feel redundant)
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Dwight Johnson
What is good:
- Simple charts with easy to understand colors
- Data validation to select state
What can be improved:
- Could have moved the output to a blank sheet & cleaned it up
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Fakhri Damdi
What is good:
- No comments
What can be improved:
- Could have reduced the formatting and focused on insights
- Feels incomplete and rushed. Could have focused on answering some analytical questions instead of making charts from raw data
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Gangadhar Yeligaty
What is good:
- Simple dashboard with easy to understand layout and charts
- Interactive charts to see migration trends per year
- Scrolling area to see where people move from selected state
- Built-in help
What can be improved:
- Could have added header section with few statistics
- Could have used better formatting for the charts (labels & axis feels heavy)
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Janet
What is good:
- Dual map with ability to analyze by either leaving or entering state
- Ability to focus on various trends (with sortable table, year selection)
- Slicers for selecting year, state, type of sort
- Good choice of colors, good alignment and layout.
What can be improved:
- Sort order slicers are reversed (clicking on Ascending sorts the table in descending)
- Feels like too much data. Could have used 000s or millions notation for population numbers (and removed MoE numbers or have them toggled)
- Could have added help to understand what arrows meant in the last column.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Jean-MarcVoyer
What is good:
- WOW
- Form controls, selectable cells to define analysis
- Good design and colors
- Excellent analysis (with ability to ask a lot of questions and get answers visually
What can be improved:
- Dark background makes it tricky to read numbers. Could have used white or dull background.
- The dashboard is very comprehensive. It could have benefited from help screen.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Jeff Sawers
What is good:
- A very interesting layout and selection mechanism (with slicers for year, region and state)
- Focus on top 10 states with-in selection and where people moved using databars & heat maps
- Good alignment, colors and design.
What can be improved:
- The heatmap section is somewhat tricky to interpret. May be aggregating data at just region level would have made it easy to read.
- A little more analysis or explanation on what may have caused migration would make this even better.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Joey Cherdarchuk
What is good:
- Beautiful and simple design
- Clickable cells for selecting year and state
- Simple colors and attractive maps
What can be improved:
- The labels on bar chart are hard to read. A better color or placement would have benefited.
- If the selected year’s map is highlighted, it would make interpretation of trends faster.
- A quick summary on what may have caused such migration trends would make this dashboard even better
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Jon Schwabish
What is good:
- Simple chart with interactive controls
- Uses the hypothesis that people in poor states move to neighboring states and tests it with the interactive charts & data.
- Good colors and simple design
What can be improved:
- Could have added overall statistics in header
- Could have displayed relevant facts for the selected region or state.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Jorge L
What is good:
- Simple & clear layout with summary on top and state details at bottom. Good colors too
- Interactive controls to select state and year.
What can be improved:
- Selecting state is tricky with data validation. Could have used a slicer or active-x combo box
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Jude Shyju
What is good:
- Data & charts (map or table) in one view with ability to toggle fields & years
- Ability to drill down to a state and visualize inflow or outflow
What can be improved:
- Picture links create clumsy output. Could have used regular charts, tables and drawing shapes instead.
- Lack of alignment in few places.
- Although ability to turn off fields is welcome, it just results in a column with #N/A. Not useful as no space is gained.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Kevin Steiner
What is good:
- Interesting visualization with very tiny cells making up US map, pivot table report filters used for selection
- Choropleth map with Excel cell grid!
- Ability to see the map & full data (as pivot report)
What can be improved:
- The cell grid map, although innovative, does not look perfect. Could have used regular map with a little bit of VBA to color it.
- Instead of presenting all the data in a table (pivot table), could have used charts. This saves space and helps create a better layout.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by krishnakumar
What is good:
- Detailed analysis on regional migration trends (Midwest, northeast, south & west)
- Ability to drill-down to an individual state by selecting year, region and state’s name
- Interesting facts & details about state shown.
What can be improved:
- Regional migration column chart is tricky to read. Could have used a map or diagram for better effect.
- Too long. Requires 2 scrolls to see the full dashboard. Instead could have shrunk or removed a few charts to create a compact report.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by krishnasamymohan
What is good:
- Simple report on state migration
What can be improved:
- Too simple. Could have used some charts or conditional formatting to highlight interesting points
- Year selection does not seem to work.
- Gauge charts a poor choice for visualizing this type of data. Could have used alternatives
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by krishnateja
What is good:
- Interesting layout and state selection mechanism (clickable map)
- Ability to analyze selected state’s migration flows
What can be improved:
- Instead of 4 charts depicting regional trends, one chart with selected region’s trends could be used. This creates space for more analysis.
- In-consistent colors and alignment
- Could have displayed a title & quick summary on top.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Kyle Tan
What is good:
- Interesting presentation with ability to choose a variety of perspectives (destination vs. origin, year, entire USA vs. single state) and various measures for doing correlation analysis.
- Sortable, scrollable chart of state migration flows (with distance from origin!)
- I love the correlation analysis chart. But selecting right measure to analyze feels tedious. Could have pre-calculated or suggested measures based on state selection.
- Good, compact layout.
What can be improved:
- The exploded, grouped pie chart on top feels clumsy and poorly done. Should have used a simple bar chart for top 15 states alone.
- The VBA code feels buggy and sluggish. Could have checked it for errors and disabled screenupdating.
- Could have displayed a title & quick summary on top.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Mark Weber
What is good:
- Superb colors, layout, chart selection and presentation
- Very easy to use with built-in help, lots of buttons to change / show / hide things you want.
- Analysis by state and state-to-state.
- 2 color themes – dark & light version.
- Subtle but powerful use of conditional formatting.
What can be improved:
- Could have added a top section with overall USA statistics.
- The analysis is limited to population numbers alone. Could have added additional metrics for richer analysis.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Matthew Waechter
What is good:
- Beautiful colors and layout. Feels well balanced and easy on eyes.
- Ability to select state & year to understand migration flows. The selection choice feels slick (clickable cells with arrow indicator)
- Interesting ladder / waterfall chart to explain net gains in population.
What can be improved:
- The dot plots on top feel cryptic. Could have added help or title to explain that they are migration numbers for all 50 states.
- The analysis is limited to population numbers alone. Could have added additional metrics for richer analysis.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Michael Bellot
What is good:
- An elegant dashboard with subtle colors, interesting shapes and clever layout
- The clickable map is a very user-friendly way to explore the information.
- Additional metrics like health, education, wealth, crime, climate etc. help explain migration reasons
What can be improved:
- Could have added data labels to the bar charts (or to the map) to make it better.
- The radar chart, although looks pretty, just repeats the data on the shapes. Could have used it for something else.
- A little more clean-up on dashboard sheet is needed. It shows some calculations and data on the right (which could be hidden)
- It is not sure for what year the map & bar chart data is displayed. An year selection mechanism can also be added.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by NA Horansil
What is good:
- Wow, cell grid used to create a giant map of USA. Then conditional formatting is used to highlight state’s cells based on migration numbers.
- Ability to select state & year to understand migration flows.
- Sortable migration trends chart (although in a separate sheet)
What can be improved:
- While the cell-grid map looks neat, could have used a regular map with VBA for color-coding. This provides better fidelity and forces us to focus on numbers rather than technique.
- The work books has 3 sheets with dashboards / charts. Contest rules specify one chart or dashboard. Could have integrated all to one page.
- Could have displayed a title & quick summary on top.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Nathaniel Mahoney
What is good:
- One more cell grid map, this time at zip code level. Looks interesting although stretched.
- Ability to select state & year to analyze migration trends
- Uses pivot tables & additional data.
What can be improved:
- The map gets stretched and looses clarity due to cell grid approach. Could have used a regular map with VBA.
- The dashboard (?) has no title, no additional numbers and has minimal legend. Could have added a title, quick summary and few more charts.
- How the zip code level migration data is obtained is not clear. Could have added instructions & pointed to sources.
- Requires Data > Refresh once selection is made. Could have automated that with VBA.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Nhut Vo
What is good:
- Simple report on state migration
- Ability to select state, year for analyzing migration flows. Ability to sort the list of states based on inflows or outflows.
What can be improved:
- The chart on the right (state-wise distribution) feels busy. Could have shown only top 10 states as sorting is already available.
- The sorting buttons are confusing. Could have used a selection mechanism (or toggle button).
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Niyaz Shaffi
What is good:
- Clean layout with good colors and clear titles
- Slicers for selecting to & from state, year
- Forecast of migration flows
- Choropleth map based on state migration flows
- Ability to expand a chart (and see more data points, although for a poorly executed chart)
What can be improved:
- The radar plots are a poor choice for depicting top 10 states. Should have used bar / column charts
- The migration inflow vs. area bubble chart is not easy to understand. Should have added instructions.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Permana Zainal
What is good:
- Clear, simple layout with bright colors
- A map with bubbles depicting migration trends.
- Ability to analyze by state, year and migration destination
What can be improved:
- The map / bubble chart is confusing with too many colors. Not sure what the state fill colors represent. The bubble colors are also distracting and useless (as the bubble size is what matters). Could have simplified with either Choropleth map or outline map with bubbles.
- The bar charts beneath donuts do not start at zero. This creates wrong impression of the data.
- Summary of total migrants / population chart needs axis labels and ability to sort.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Prashant Sharma
What is good:
- Roll-over selectable map and ability to select year for analysis
- Simple dashboard with state migration analysis
What can be improved:
- The state-wise migration flows chart needs ability to sort.
- Could have added few more charts or analysis tables. The chart & tables are just a replica of original data.
- Could have added a title & quick summary at overall USA level.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Rajesh Sangati
What is good:
- Map with ability to select state, type of migration and year (from drop downs)
- Answers questions like which states get most net migrations, contribute for 90% of outflows, inflows
- Simple layout and easy to use
What can be improved:
- The map feels hand-drawn. May be a better outline map or shapes would do justice.
- Labels on charts are difficult to read. Should have used 2 letter state code with horizontal orientation.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Richard Dutton
What is good:
- Clear, elegant layout with lots of detail
- Can select a state (from drop-down), year to analyze migration flows.
- Sortable state-to-state migration chart
- Clicking on any state in the map shows further statistics.
What can be improved:
- The state selection drop-down is clumsy to use. Should have used either active-x or slicer or clickable map to make it user-friendly.
- The axis labels on state-to-state migration are hard to read. May be 2 letter codes or scrollable chart would do the trick.
Techniques used:
Form ControlsMaps + VBASortable TablesConditional Formatting
Migration Dashboard by Roberto Mensa
What is good:
- Wow. A very colorful, clear and well designed report
- Slicers for selecting year, type of data and state are well placed and formatted. They look very natural.
- The map / bubble chart / xy plot is a clever piece of work and explains where people are heading or coming from.
- Interesting addition of Wikipedia links for state names, so that we can learn more by clicking.
What can be improved:
- Could have added a title on the top
- An outline map instead of geo-political map would have made the bubble + XY plot pop out more.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Roger Haragushiku
What is good:
- A simple data table along with bubble chart depicting migration data.
- Ability to select a state and year for analysis
What can be improved:
- The map depicts data in the data table. Could have removed one and used the space for something else.
- Could have added a title and quick summary on top.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by S Ramesh
What is good:
- Interesting report. Start with a help screen and can speak the numbers upon selecting a state.
- A map where you can select a state for further analysis.
What can be improved:
- The map with radio buttons feels somewhat busy. Could have used a simpler outline map with clickable text-boxes for smooth layout.
- The charts which show details are on other sheets. The contest rules specify creating one chart or dashboard on a single page.
- Although built-in help is nice, there is no way to see it again. A help button would have been useful.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Shailesh Patwardhan
What is good:
- A crisp, simple and number-only dashboard
- Tests a few hypotheses to explain the migration and explores what may have caused the movement
- Sections on key findings & unexplained are very useful
What can be improved:
- The precision of numbers seems excessive given the nature of them (and margin of error). Could have rounded numbers to nearest %, thousand or million as needed.
- A few charts could have made the insights pop out better.
- Could have added analysis by a selected state. This makes the dashboard personal and interesting.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Shamik Sharma
What is good:
- Clear, elegant dashboard with lots of detail, interactivity and analysis
- Ability to analyze by selecting a single state, multiple states and year.
- Additional data on unemployment rate, gross state product (GSP), international migration helps understand the migration trends better.
- Very good colors, alignment, layout and feel.
- Built-in Help sheet to explain the dashboard
What can be improved:
- While the dashboard provides powerful analysis and ability to interact, a little bit of conclusions or summary text could have helped in interpreting it better.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Somalinga K
What is good:
- A simple dashboard with ability to explore any given state’s migration trends and understand one state to another flows.
- Colorful and simple.
What can be improved:
- The data-validation in cell I2 was incorrectly setup (corrected it in download file)
- Instead of showing data as-is based on selection, could have added some analysis or exploration on why the migration may have happened.
- Should have used consistent fonts, alignment & colors and prevented errors thru IFERROR()
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Srinivas Chilukuri
What is good:
- Beautiful colors and layout. Enables quick analysis and exploration.
- Ability to select a state & year for deep-dive analysis
- Additional data median income, temperature & crime-rate helps understand migration better.
- Inflow vs. outflow scatter plot is interesting
What can be improved:
- The Choropleth map on top feels under-utilized. Could have generated map based on selected state instead of all states.
- Alignment is a bit off in few places. Also the charts on right could use grid-lines or repeated axis labels for better readability.
- The file is password protected (VBA code). This is against rules.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Stacey Baker
What is good:
- A very insightful & detailed dashboard.
- Ability to explore migration trends based on state, year, various metrics (crime rate, per-capita income, unemployment rate, median home value, median rent, % of unmarried population etc.)
- Ability to compare up to 4 states on various metrics to understand reasons behind migration.
What can be improved:
- The dashboard is too long. Could have reduced the map size and arranged everything on one screen / page.
- Reading the dashboard is tricky due to its length. A help sheet is needed.
Techniques used:
Become Awesome in Excel & VBA – Create dashboards like these…
My comments:
- Learn how to create interactive dashboards & reports using Excel
- Develop your own macros & VBA code
- 50+ hours of video training
- Learn at your own pace
- Click here to know more
Migration Dashboard by Suriya Banu
What is good:
- Unique design and interesting choice of colors & layout
- Ability to select a state by clicking on cells with state 2 letter codes.
- The neighbor state statistics is insightful. It shows consistent movement of people with-in neighboring states.
- Interesting facts about the state.
What can be improved:
- The home screen is drab and has no insights. Could have used it for overall summary and quick insights on migration trends.
- The pie charts are a poor way to depict data like this. Should have used column or bar charts.
- Year selection feels tricky. Should have used a more obvious method.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Thiruselvan
What is good:
- Very insightful & interesting dashboard
- Good mix of charts, observations, fun facts and analysis.
- Ability to select a state for in-depth analysis.
- Pareto analysis to understand migration of a selected state.
What can be improved:
- The pareto analysis feels forced. It would have been better to test whether a pareto behavior is exhibited by the data before going this route.
- Some place the alignment, font sizes, border thicknesses and colors are a bit off.
- Could have used an Active-X drop down for state selection.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Trevor Eyre
What is good:
- Interesting dashboard with ability to compare 2 states for given time period on various parameters
- Simple & elegant design
What can be improved:
- The controls for date range selection feel un-necessary as we have only 3 years of data. The other controls should have been intergraded in to the dashboard to make it compact.
- The charts & analysis leaves one wanting for more.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Tyler Barr
What is good:
- A colorful, interesting design with built-in help
- Slicers for selecting state & year
- Ability to zoom the map view is an interesting touch.
What can be improved:
- The map, 50 state table at the bottom & top 5 migration states on top right all depict same data. Could have removed one of them and used the space for other types of analysis.
- Picture links make the “Where are they coming from” section a bit stretched. Could have used textboxes or regular cells.
- Alignment is a bit off in few places.
Techniques used:
Migration Dashboard by Vikram Krishnamurthy
What is good:
- A detailed dashboard to explore migration from one state to another
- Analysis by yearly trends, average distance from selected state. Also you can explore GDP, personal income and employment for the selected state.
What can be improved:
- Poor choice of charts & colors. The 3d pie charts, in-consistent colors and layout makes it tricky to gain insights from this. Could have used simple bar charts and subtle colors.
- Lots of white space and redundant charts make it hard to understand key points. Should have reduced the charts and made them in to a tight layout.
Techniques used:
Become Awesome in Excel & VBA – Create dashboards like these…
My comments:
- Learn how to create interactive dashboards & reports using Excel
- Develop your own macros & VBA code
- 50+ hours of video training
- Learn at your own pace
- Click here to know more
Like all? Download one zip file with all dashboards
If you are planning to play with all these dashboards,
download this zip file [50 mb, ZIP file].
Make sure you close all other workbooks before opening these files as many contain VBA code.
How do you like these dashboards?
Quite a few of these dashboards are really impressive. Seeing them is just like watching a magic show or world-class ballet performance. I will share my views & our judges views next week.
Meanwhile, Tell us which entries you liked most? Go ahead and share your views.
122 Responses to “10 Excel Keyboard Shortcuts I can’t live without!”
Nice,
Mine would be Ctrl + R (to fill right) and Ctrl + D (to fill down). I just love making good formulae which can be used all over the table.
Mine are (not in this order): Ctrl+S (save), Ctrl+W (close active workbook), Ctrl+PageDown/PageUp (navigate to the next/previous worksheet), F4 (toggle references), Ctrl+A/X/C/V (select all/cut/copy/paste), F9 (calculate).
I use ctrl+shift+1 for convert value to number format
I'd add ctrl+shift+arrows to select tables and F9 to see what part of my larger than normal formula went wrong. Plus the standard ctrl+c, ctrl+x and ctrl+v.
Some of those mentioned already (eg CTRL + PageUp / PageDown to flick between tabs) but shift + f2 to add a comment and CTRL + 8 / CTRL + 9 to hide a row or column or CTRL + SHIFT + 8 or 9 to unhide. Oh and CTRL + SHIFT + $ to comvert a value to currency
I use the excel quick access toolbar, and use the corresponding alt+1-9 for my most used short cuts. So on there I currently have filter, paste values, pivot table, excel options, paste formulas which are my most used shortcuts.
But apart from that f5 (go to function for blank, constants formulas).
well I'm going to tell you I Use
Alt+1 = paste values
Alt+2 = paste formula
Alt+3 = paste formats
how?
Excel 2007 - you can add items to the quick access toolbar and then when you press ALT it assigns them all a number/letter. it's just a case of finding the right commands.
Excellent... made me look for them and when i did get them i just went crazy... hahahahahaha... thanks a lot stephen....
Most of Chandoos and
Ctrl Pg Up/Down - move to next active page
Alt F11 - open VBA Editor window
Ctrl F6 - Scroll between open workbooks
Ctrl ~ - Show/Hide Formulas
For Tip #4 I always use CTRL+ALT+V, I find it easier on the fingertips.
4. ALT+ES – Paste Special > Values
I have created a macro for the functions that I use most:
Ctrl + shift + L to hightlight cell
Ctrl + shift + M to unhighlight cell
Ctrl + shift + O to paste formula
Ctrl + shift + T to past format
Ctrl + shift + E to format as accounting
Ctrl + shift + I to use % format. and these excel. and many of the other tips mentioned.
how did you make these macros? Thanks!
Hi Daniel
Simple - just record a macro of the action you want then when you save there'll be an 'assign shortcut' option for you. You can also change them after if you find it's not that convenient or you forget it too easily.
Cheers
Using 2007 version:
Crtl-tab to toggle in and out of excel with another workbook or applicaiton (word, ppt, outlook, etc). I prefer this over Crtl-F6 because i only need to use my left thumb and index finger instead of 2 hands for Crtl-F6. To me, the keys Crtl-F6 is too far away from one another, even if I don't have to worry about toggling to other applications like crtl-tab.
Crtl-Pg Up and Crtl-Pg Down: too many worksheets to do QC work after each project/update.
Shift+End+arrow key or Crtl+Shift+arrow key: depends on if i want the whole column/row/area.
F4 for ease of formula control.
Crtl+F to find/replace text, numbers, formula checking, etc.
I have all paste special on the access tool bar instead. there are too many situations to use.
Crtl+~ to see all cells with formulae.
F2: not only edit the formula but to hi-light and understand where others cells are linked to this cell, if any.
I use
Ctrl + spacebar to select entire column,
Shift + spacebar to select entire row
Shift + Ctrl + spacebar to select all datas in the worksheet
Ctrl + 0 to hide a column
Ctrl + Shift + 9 to unhide a column
Ctrl + 2 to bold
Guys - you can't live without Ctrl + Z - just as you can't live life without an eraser.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but you can't actually erase your past in real life.
Here are a couple that haven't been mentioned yet (I think)...
ALT + = (Autosum)
CTRL+A (Select data/all)
CTRL+Space (Select column)
SHIFT+Space (Select row)
CTRL+SHIFT+F3 (Create Names)
CTRL+5 (Strikethrough)
ALT+ENTER (Mutliple rows in cell)
I've noticed that the unhide column shortcut (CTRL+SHIFT+0) stopped working when I updated to Windows 7...anyone know why (or a workaround)?
Try Ctrl + ~
All time best CTRL+SHIFT+Down arrow to select contiguous cells ( along a column)
ALT+N+V+T to insert pivot table
ALT+E+A+A to clear all ( very handy!!!)
ALT+F1 to insert default chart in current sheet
arrow key to toggle between chart elements
In addition to the obvious Control + C/X/V (Copy, Cut, and Paste), I use ALT + = to insert AutoSum. This is realy handy.
Definitely Shift or Cltr + Space Bar, then Ctrl + or - to add/delete a row/column.
1. Ctrl + Page Up/Down - jump to previous/next worksheet
2. Ctrl + Home - jump to the top of the worksheet
3. Ctrl + F3 - displays the Name manager
4. Ctrl + 1 - format
5. Ctrl + ; - paste today's date
6. Ctrl + W - close active workbook
7. Shift + F11 - adds new worksheet
8. Shift + F3 - insert formula
9. Ctrl + 9 - hides selected row
10. Ctrl + 0 - hides selected column
Btw thanks a lot for "CTRL+SHIFT+L – Turn on/ off filters", I have to learn that. 🙂
Mine have to be:
Ctrl + Shift + + to insert a new row/column/cell
F9 to run formulas. Great for testing parts for a formula
Ctrl + D to repeat the cell above
Yeah man, control+d
Thumbs Up for this shortcut, specially when you work with a lot of data base, just create your formulas and Bualaa. Bless people.
Ctrl + z = Undo is one I use a lot
Didn't see these--
Being right-handed, using thumb and forefinger...:-)
Cntrl + Insert for Copy
Cntrl + Delete for Cut
Whenever I'd go to new company, had standing invitation: if anyone knew more ways to "copy" than I, I'd buy lunch... this was always the winning #7"...:-)
How many ways y'all know...?? Im ready to buy lunch...:-)
yep--#2 is good--- but I use Alt + D+F+F which only takes one hand and leaves right hand for coffee...:-)
and, since I discovered "MS Flag key + M" to close all open windows and put u at Desktop...I use it multiple times a day...
F12 - Save As...
Yes agreed with CTRL - Z, but hey don't forget his brother CTRL - Y [Redo] 🙂
Ctrl+Alt+V for Paste Special
Alt DFF for Filtering
Alt ASD for Sorting in decending order and Alt ASA for Sorting in ascending order
Ctrl PageDown/PageUp for navigation over sheets
etc.
Can someone put all these shortcut keys in photoshop and share the link so that we can put it as a wall paper.
Hi,
very useful post!
Mine are:
Shift-End- - selecting used fields
F4
CTRL-S
Thanks for the inspiration - I love the cheat-sheet wallpaper idea.
P.S.: Where's your flattr-button?
Thomas
Mine will be
F11 - Create a chart
Alt + D + F +F - To turn on/ off the auto filter
Really good post, lots of useful stuff here!
One of my most used not mentioned already (i dont believe!):
ALT + SHIFT + F1 - add new sheet to workbook
@Arun, All
For a comprehensive list of Keyboard Shortcuts please also refer here:
http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-excel/archive/2011/07/19/cant-remember-all-those-excel-keyboard-shortcuts-now-you-dont-have-to.aspx
1 of my best short cut is to Check which cells/worksheets are referenced/used in formula
-> Ctrl + [
Works only on the cells which has formula. it Jumps directly the dependent cells
& Ctrl + ] works for those cells which will be used in formula (Dependents)
Thank you so much for showing me what this Ctrl Function does, i used it by accident and have struggled to figure it out. Now I'll use it all the time!!
To freeze and unfreeze panes
ALT+W+F+F
A couple of my favourites I haven't seen mentioned:
ALT E+S for paste special, use all the time for copying formats, values formulas, etc.
ALT E+I+S useful for creating values in a series
SHIFT ALT right arrow to group, ALT D+G+H to hide group ALT D+G+S to show group.
ALT+TAB to navigate between open windows.
@Steven, thanks for the tip on using the quick access toolbar. I just rearranged mine.
In addition to many of the shortcuts listed above I use F4 to repeat an action and CTRL+N to open a new workbook
@Les Goins
I tried Crtl+Del but it only delete. it is not cut if we can't paste it back somewhere else, right?
...:-) Sorry, Fred (And, all others...)
should be "SHIFT + Delete key" to "Cut"... THEN, just hit Enter, or Cntrl V to Paste
CTRL# to format dates!!
Hi All,
My fav or top are
1 alt+dff for auto filter
2 alt + es, followed by, v, c, w, etc for paste special
3 Ctrl + navigational keys to move around in workbook
4 ctrl + space select entire column
5 shift + space select entire row
the list will just go on... in a nut shell all short cut Handled by left hand and right hand for the mouse + defnitely coffe 🙂
@Chris, glad i inspired.
a couple more favourites of mine:
Alt & ; = select visible (really useful when working with autofilter)
Ctrl&PgUp/PgDn = move left/right on a sheet (useful when you have a lot of columns)
Ctrl&Tab (or Ctrl&Shift&Tab)= switch between workbooks (& the other way back)
Alt&Tab (or Alt&&Shift&Tab) = switch between applications (& the other way back).... however, if you note that it always takes you to the last used application first, then press & release both repeated will flick you back and forth between 2 applications or 2 workbooks without having to press the shift. I use this if I have to complete journals, where I have to take data from Excel and post into our accounting package.... with Ctrl&C/Ctrl&V.
I use the following short cuts often
1) Alt D,F,F - AutoFilter
2) Ctrl+space - Select entire column
3) Shirt+Space - Select entire row
4) F12 - Save As
5) Alt + F,C - Close workbook
6) Alt + F,X - Close Excel application
7) Ctrl + 1 - Format Cell
8) Context menu key (next to win key) + S - Paste special
9) F4 - Repeat the last action
10) Ctrl + PageUp, PageDown - To browse through worksheets
Everyday shortcuts for me:
CTRL + C Copy
CTRL + X Cut
CTRL + V Paste
CTRL + D Copy from above
CTRL + Z Undo
F4 Repeat (or scroll through referencing)
F2 Edit cell
CTRL Page Up/Page Dwn Move to next/previous worksheet
CTRL + * Select current region
CTRL + Home Go to top left cell
CTRL + ; insert date - I use a lot but I like to have the keystrokes the way I want so I make tiny macros for my faves and give them my own key combos.
CTRL SHIFT + V = Paste Values is much easier than the built in for me because it's a natural follow-on for CTRL + C.
I use "CTRL+[ " This takes you to the source of your formula and I use it every day.
The "CTRL+[" Is fantastic. Thanks for Sharing.
@Andy & Gaylen, All
Don't forget about Ctrl+]
which follows a cell to it's next dependants
Both of Ctrl+[ and Ctrl+] can be used iteratively to move up/down the dependancy tree
Great ... thanks everyone for the tips.
BTW - it's interesting how good it is for us all to be human filters. Instead of a bamboozling blur of what you could possibly use, it's: here - you'll probably like this one ... I do.
@andy and hui
I'd not come across the CTRL + [ or ] before so thanks! I can't imagine how useful they'd have been over my career so far. Great tip
really helpful
My list is bit more..
Ctrl+page up/down to move between tabs
right click+p+s for paste special values (i use most of the times keyboard right click..since it is very near to fingers)
alt+d+f+f and again alt+d+f+f to remove all the filters and add filters again
ctrl+tab to move between open workbooks
ofcourse F2 very commonly
Shift+F11 very frequently to add new worksheet/tab
alt+o+h+r and alt+o+c+a are my best shorcut keys to rename tab and auto fit the cells
(ctrl+c/x/z/v/b/u/i/S..like everyone)
Regards,
Saran
lostinexcel.blogspot.com
Since I use Conditional formatting very often i always use ALT+O+D
Just thought of another
for wrap and unwrap, ctrl+w and ctrl+q+w (quit wrap)
because I do it a lot and it's too fiddly to do through menus.
Hi use ALT+DFS on a daily basis- incase you have filtered a sheet against 5-7 filters and you want to remove all filters then this is the easiest.
Ctrl + Alt + V ----> paste special
Ctrl + F6 = navigate between differetn Excel files.
Ctrl + PgUp/PgDn = navigate between sheets
Ctrl + Home/End
Ctrl + Arrows
Shift + lots of keys...
ALT + ; - to copy visible cells only. I have to use it quite often and a lot of them you have already mentioned :).
thank you for sharing.
Ctrl+shift+L for Autofilter and remove the filters
My Favourites (which I use all the time):
Ctrl + 1 - cell formats
Ctrl + D - copy values Down
Ctrl + R - copy values Right
Alt + DFF - toggle filters on / off
Alt + WFF - toggle freeze pane on / off
Alt + HVF - Paste Special; Formulas
Alt + HVV - Paste Special; Values
Ctrl + C then Alt + HVV - removes formulas (especially handy when selecting whole sheet)
Alt + ADFROT - Advanced Filter to get Unique values for a column, to new location
Alt + DPF - insert quick Pivot Table
Hello everyone.
I'm going to admit that I don't use keyboard shortcuts beyond Copy and Paste.
Why not? Every software and OS has their own keyboard shortcuts and I have a fear of them overlapping.
One keyboard shortcut might do something cool in Excel but in my music composition software that shortcut might mute the drum track. In my video editing software is might the the shortcut for opening the effects menu.
Shortcuts are really cool but I've gone 15 years working Excel, writing VBA code, and making a living without memorizing keyboard shortcuts. Only recently have I been willing to admit that.
@Oz
Your missing out on huge increases in efficiency
Most of the normal shortcuts are similar throughout all applications
Ctrl C, V X - Copy, paste Cut
Ctrl O - Open
Ctrl S - Save
Ctrl P - Print
and several other of a similar nature
Hiu,
I see what you're saying but still disagree. The efficiency that I'm missing out on is small. This isn't like I've declared refusal to use pivot tables.
Shortcuts were screwing me up when I switched from Excel on my PC and Excel on my Mac. CTRL C, CTRL V are useful and universal. I do use those.
The only thing I can see is that I'd be in trouble if I joined one of those Excel tournaments.
One mildly humorous reaction: when you mention CTRL P for printing, I never just straight print. The printer manufacturers have things set up where you can't set a printer to default to printing in draft mode. So, I always manually go to the print menus and adjust the settings to draft mode.
Any way ... the bottom line is that I don't work in an environment where shortcuts will make or break me.
I use one program that has Ctrl C and Ctrl V for inbuilt shortcuts and it drives me nuts because I use them all the time. The Shift+Ins is the one I need to use in that program.
Another Excel one I use often is Ctrl+' to copy the data from the cell above. Several others that have already been listed.
My new laptop has the "F" buttons combined with other buttons. To save space on the keyboard I guess. Whenever I'm at home and hit F2 to edit it toggles my wi-fi on and off. Grrr. I have to hold the function key then hit F2 to activate the F2 function.
So glad I found this page. Paste values only is the shortcut I was looking for. Found it. 🙂 Thank you.
lots of people at my office use a background program to assign keyboard shortcuts. Drives me crazy because they use existing keyboard shortcuts like ctrl-a to shoot off a macro, then they don't know how to select all. Makes training them on excel a lot more difficult.
A good background program to assign keyboard shortcuts will allow them to be application specific so that ^a does not interfere with select all in excel. A misused background program could easily result in the situation described above.
Highlight a row or column and use...
Ctrl + + and Ctrl + - to insert or delete rows or columns
Thanks Rob - I've got double rows of toolbars all round with hundreds of buttons, so even finding my faves like insert delete row can be hard. That'll be really handy.
Does anyone know how to use the ALT-key (or any other key) to access the buttons on the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) numberd with more then 2 digits?
Just type the numbers/letters shown.
If it says 09 just press 0 and then 9 (of course after pressing ALT to see the shortcuts assigned to QAT)
The less-common (but already mentioned here) shortcuts I use the most are:
Ctrl-1 (cell format)
Ctrl-Home/End (beginning/end)
Ctrl-Shift-Home/End (select from here to beginning/end)
Ctrl-PgUp/PgDn (move between worksheets)
Ctrl-` (show formulae)
Very helpful! Thanks!
A couple of my time-saver favorites:
F2 to edit a cell (helpful if I just need to delete the last character and don't want to retype the whole thing)
Shift-F2 to add or edit a comment (then Esc Esc to get back out of it)
Also a big fan of the Ctrl-K hyperlink one that others have mentioned!
Been reading these tips for a year and a half, and always something useful.
I use a lot of comments so Shift-F2 is helpful. Thanks.
For F2 - edit cell there is an option to 'Directly edit in cell' which I always have on. Just double click. Not only that, but the cursor will be just where you double click, so you can start middle, end, wherever you need, without another click. 🙂
I just hate to use the mouse, so I avoid double-clicking at all costs! 🙂
Fair enough. I change my mind regularly about that. It's a mood thing ...or if I'm eating over the KB. Bad! hehe.
CTRL + SHIFT + & (TO CREATE OUTLINE BORDER)
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I often use F2 followed by F9 to convert a formula in a cell to its value. It's the keyboard equivalent to copying the cell, and using Edit > Paste Special > Values on the same cell, but much quicker.
Application? I use this a lot if I have to manually separate items on a receipt into different categories, but I still have to take sales tax into account. I'll enter certain items from the receipt into the cell, and include a quick formula to get the sales tax for just those items. When I'm done, I strip out the formula just to be on the safe side, leaving the value of the cell.
Thanks Craig, unfortunately when I tried this I found another app has hijacked my F9 - what does it normally do by itself? I will have to try to wrestle it back from the app.
BTW I use paste vals so much I made a macro so I could use ctl-sh-v. The reason this is so handy is because of course I've always done ctl-v immediately before so it's really like one quick action, with the bonus that the paste val doesn't have to be in the same cell (I mean you don't have to lose your formula) Easily my most constantly used macro. If you want to give it a try ...
Sub PasteValues()
'' Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+V
'
'ActiveCell.Select
'Selection.PasteSpecial Paste:=xlValues, Operation:=xlNone, SkipBlanks:= _
'False, Transpose:=False
ActiveCell.PasteSpecial Paste:=xlValues
End Sub
does it work on a range. I tried selecting a range and then F2+F9. It changes from formula to value in just first cell.
Is there a keyboard shortcut for filtering a value after adding the filters to a data?
It might be a bit clumsy, but just use the keyboard to navigate to the filtered cell and hit Alt + Down to bring up the filtered options.
Mine
CTRL+* ( it will slecte all the work area)
[…] Our friend Chandoo, excel dashboard guru over at chandoo.org has provided us with the 10 Excel Keyboard Shortcuts You Can’t Live Without. […]
Other than CTRL C, CTRL V the only other shortcut that I can't live without: CTRL+SHIFT when moving a block of data and wanting it inserted.
After highlighting the cells that you want to move, select CTRL+SHIFT and the cursor turns into a line that you position to the place where you want the data inserted. It's pretty cool.
1. Ctrl+Enter accepts your input and leaves the cursor in the same cell. Saves you from having to go back up to continue work on that cell e.g. copy....
2. Select a range of cells which have the same formula or content; edit the active cell only; now press Ctrl+Enter to populate the entire range with the corrected formula/content!
3. In the middle of a formula, if you have navigated away from the active cell (e.g. to select a large range) such that it is no longer visible, you can press Ctrl+Bckspace to jump back to the active cell whilst remaining in edit mode
Am using as
Ctrl+5 for strikethrough in the content of the cell.
hi..
can any one tell me what is shortcut for copy and paste all the table as it is..i knw ctrl+c and ctl=v; bt this shortcut not paste document as it is..
[…] the most popular posts from earlier this semester. Re-posted from February 14, 2013 Website: http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/08/08/must-have-excel-keyboard-shortcuts/ Especially useful when analyzing data, making charts and formatting workbooks. Business and […]
[…] Website: http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/08/08/must-have-excel-keyboard-shortcuts/ […]
[…] Website: http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/08/08/must-have-excel-keyboard-shortcuts/ […]
The two I use all the time are:
Ctrl + (Control and Plus sign on numeric keypad) = Insert row or column
Ctrl - (Control and Minus sign on numeric keypad) = Delete row or column
Shortcut #4 is one of my favorites, but there's an important note speficially regarding Paste Special Values - you need to hit V after alt + ES. I know you have a link to that detial amongst other options within Paste Special (all of which I use all the time and LOVE), but if you're specifically noting Paste Special Values, it should read alt + ESV.
Thanks for all your info!
[…] some time getting fully on board with shortcuts. As an added resource, do check out Chandoo’s post on 10 must-have […]
Great discussions!
I have a question for No. 8 CTRL + K for Hyperlinks.
Is there any way you can add a Hyperlink and KEEP the existing formatting of the text in the cell?
I would assume it might be a setting somewhere where you can define the Hyperlink Design - but that would just be another single format I think - I want it to be un-formatted if anything so it picks up the current cell format. Any ideas please? Thanks everyone!
Hi Chandoo,
I do regularly read emails received by you. I use above mentioned 10 shortcuts in daily workflow. In addition to this I use following shortcuts:
Filter Ctrl+shift+L and open filter column alt+down arrow key.
Visible cells Alt+:
Format Painter Copy then go to the cell which you want format right click key+S+T
It's an amazing article designed for all the internet viewers; they will take
advantage from it I am sure.
Amazing article,
The only thing i didnt know is ctrl+shift+l for filters and I use them alot,
so thanks!
And my contribution is:
alt+h+9 > remove decimal place
alt+h+0 > add decimal place.
Very useful when using ctrl+shift+1 for number formatting and immediately hitting alt+h+9 twice to remove decimal places.
Cheers
I am using AutoFilter and I have a large picklist of values available to me. I want to select about the first 50% of the items. Is there any shortcut to grab them? (i.e. Select 1st item, hold shift, select last item --which does NOT work).
Thanks!
how can i "clear format" from a part of selection in excel by keyboard.
i need keyboard shortcut to clear format of any cell.
reply me
ashish gupta
email: ashish99b@gmail.com
Hii...Ashish....
Clear format :-Alt+H+C+S.....
[…] http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/08/08/must-have-excel-keyboard-shortcuts […]
Hiii...
Previous is wrong ...
Clear Format:-ALT+H+L+C+S
I think 7 should be "CTRL+F3 – Show Names"
cool, thanks bro!
Chandoo, Greetings! Nice tips. Like it & use ful. To make it credible and professional, please publish without spelling, grammatical mistakes, if you may. Thank you.
Sri: The spelling and grammar are pretty accurate, if you're referring to the original article. If there is a specific spot that you feel is unclear due to grammar issues, you'll want to provide more details on what is confusing you versus just saying "please publish without spelling, grammatical mistakes".
Chandoo doesn't have control over the grammar or spelling in users' responses such as yours, of course; if that's what you're addressing, you should address your comment to the user who posted the item which you feel has poor grammar. (You would generally only do so, though, if it's that you need something clarified because of the grammar issue.)
I'd like to note that your post isn't actually the best in terms of spelling and grammar. For example, you capitalized "greetings" even though it's in the middle of a sentence, and you put an unnecessary space in "useful". If you're particularly bothered by poor grammar, you'll want to proofread your own posts a little more carefully! 😉
This is awesome, totally on nerd overload. Here's my fav:
Go to - special - blanks
Then Ctrl, up arrow, =, enter
This fills in all the blanks!
Thanks fellow geeks for all the sweet tips
Guys,
CTRL+SHIFT+1 always give us number format with 2 decimals. Is there any Excel shortcut that could give us number format with 0 decimal, other than making our own macro?
Thanks
I have commented on this just few comments above. That's how I handle it.
alt+h+9 > remove decimal place.
alt+h+0 > add decimal place.
But that's two steps instead of one.
1) press SHIFT+CTRL+1, and then
2) ALT+H+9 or 0.....
not too convenient.
Seems to me, the only way is to make the macro
try Alt + H + K
these shortcut keys are really helpful in smart work & fast work
Wonderful tips, I have made my own list.
Another good one is CTRL+F10, toggles maximise/restore window in workspace. (So you can find the scrollbars, and switch books by clicking another one)
I use CTRL-Z to repeat the last command. Handy for inserting multiple rows or columns.
[…] Here are some great Excel shortcuts copied from http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/08/08/must-have-excel-keyboard-shortcuts […]
I use filters to do an ad-hoc analysis of my data. So, Once I set a couple of filters.
Ctrl ; to enter today's date
Ctrl ' to enter the same data as above
Ctrl home to go to the top