Excel Tables are one of Excel’s most powerful features for working with data. To create a table, just select a cell in the data and use Control + T. New tables have filters enabled. To toggle filters, use Ctrl-Shift-L in Windows, and use Command-Shift-F on a mac. A number of shortcuts for selecting cells take advantage of the table structure. You can select the entire table with Select All, that’s control + A on Windows, Command-A on a Mac. The first time you’ll get just the table data, and the second time will include the column headers. You can a select table row, using Shift + Space. And a table column, with Control Space. Both shortcuts work with multiple cells selected. Insert rows and columns with control-shift + in Windows, Control-I on a Mac. [Message: Mac 2016: Control Shift +] Inserted rows go below the selection, and inserted columns go to the left. Delete rows and columns in a table with Control -.
Tables have very good support for drag and drop. I can select one or more rows, then drag directly to a new location. This is also a good way to duplicate rows in a table. Just select the rows you want to copy, and drag with the Control key down in Windows, or Option key on a Mac. When a table has filters, you can activate a filter using Alt + down arrow. In Windows, you get a few more shortcuts once you have an open filter. You can jump directly to the search box by typing E. You can Tab into the values area and use the up and down arrows to navigate, and then toggle the checkboxes with the spacebar. When a filter is active in a column, you can clear it with Alt + down arrow and C Finally, you can sort A-Z with S, and sort Z-A with O. When you have several columns filtered and you want to reset all filters at once, just toggle filters off and then on again. This is really a handy way to make sure that you’re looking at all data.
Dave Bruns
Hi - I’m Dave Bruns, and I run Exceljet with my wife, Lisa. Our goal is to help you work faster in Excel. We create short videos, and clear examples of formulas, functions, pivot tables, conditional formatting, and charts.
