Alternate shortcut keys....other ways to undo. Other ways to copy and paste. How to edit a cell comment. How to insert a new worksheet. And, a quest...how to assign F1 to do F2. Episode 1209 shows you how. Learn Excel 97-2007 from MrExcel.
Transcript of the video:
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Hey, welcome back to the MrExcel netcast, I'm Bill Jelen. I'm actually on a quest today, but I'm going to give you a few things before I tell you what the quest is. Just a lot of quick hits, these are questions that came up in the seminar. Hey, if you need to count cells that do not contain numbers, instead of the COUNT function, you know that you can use COUNTA, that was a big one, out a couple of cool tips. You know, I always, at one point in the seminar, talk about Undo. I asked everyone how to Undo, and the whole room, of course, says Ctrl+Z. It always amazes me, in Springfield, Missouri, Derek hit me with Alt+Backspace, and sure enough Alt+Backspace works. I was in another Springfield, Springfield, Illinois, and this time Larry shouted out “Alt E U!” And so if I would delete this, sure enough, Alt E U is yet another way.
Another one of those strange shortcut keys that came up: Normally to copy, I think most people use Ctrl+C, but someone pointed out that you could use Ctrl+Insert to copy, and then Shift+Insert to paste. So you know, might be easier for you, rather than using Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, you know, particularly since you're doing Ctrl+Shift back and forth. But then the big question that came up, someone said “You know, hey, I really like to use shortcut keys. I need a shortcut key that will insert a new worksheet.” Now, the first thing I thought of, is that we could use Alt I W, which is basically using the Excel 2003 dialog box, although that seems like a bit of a cheat.
And when I did some research to figure this out, it turns out it actually makes a lot of sense. Normally, if you have some numeric data and you want to create a chart from that day, you press the F11 key. So I think about that, F11 creates a brand new chart sheet.
If you want to create a brand new worksheet, what you do is use Shift+F11, Shift+F11 is the shortcut key to create a brand new sheet.
Also, inexplicably, using Alt+Shift+F1 would do it, although certainly Shift+F11 seems like a faster way to go.
Okay, now here's my quest, this came from Brad, Brad was at a seminar, he came up to me, he said “Look, I hate to use the mouse, I never want to touch the mouse, I always use keyboard shortcuts, and so I'm frequently editing a cell with F2.” By the way, if you want to edit a cell comment, I have a cell comment here, so F2 edits the cell, Shift+F2 will edit the comment, isn't that cool. But anyway, back to Brad's question, Brad says “I'm always hitting F2, and every once in a while, you know, out of every 100 times I hit F2, I accidentally hit F1, and that brings up Excel help.” And he says “That drives me crazy, because when Excel help pops up, there's no good way to close Excel help without reaching for the mouse. I am stuck reaching for the mouse, and then I have to reluctantly go hit the mouse to get rid of Excel help.” He says “Can I change what F1 does? Can I sign F1 to a macro, or even better yet, just assign F1 to do F2? Every time I hit F1 I'm not going to Excel help!
Why would I go to Excel help? Every time I hit F1, it clearly is an accidental, miss-strike where I was shooting for F2 and I can't figure out a good solution to this!” So I'm putting the challenge out to you, is there some nice keyboard application tool that you use that can re-route F1, and make it be like you would press F2? If you know the answer, then shoot me a quick note, Bill@MrExcel.com and you can win an Excel master-pin, and be featured on a future podcast. So you have it, lots of good Excel shortcut keys, some alternate shortcut keys, and a quest: How to make the F1 key no longer do Help, but instead basically do Edit Cell?
Hey, I want to thank you for stopping by, we’ll see you next time for another netcast from MrExcel!
Hey, welcome back to the MrExcel netcast, I'm Bill Jelen. I'm actually on a quest today, but I'm going to give you a few things before I tell you what the quest is. Just a lot of quick hits, these are questions that came up in the seminar. Hey, if you need to count cells that do not contain numbers, instead of the COUNT function, you know that you can use COUNTA, that was a big one, out a couple of cool tips. You know, I always, at one point in the seminar, talk about Undo. I asked everyone how to Undo, and the whole room, of course, says Ctrl+Z. It always amazes me, in Springfield, Missouri, Derek hit me with Alt+Backspace, and sure enough Alt+Backspace works. I was in another Springfield, Springfield, Illinois, and this time Larry shouted out “Alt E U!” And so if I would delete this, sure enough, Alt E U is yet another way.
Another one of those strange shortcut keys that came up: Normally to copy, I think most people use Ctrl+C, but someone pointed out that you could use Ctrl+Insert to copy, and then Shift+Insert to paste. So you know, might be easier for you, rather than using Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, you know, particularly since you're doing Ctrl+Shift back and forth. But then the big question that came up, someone said “You know, hey, I really like to use shortcut keys. I need a shortcut key that will insert a new worksheet.” Now, the first thing I thought of, is that we could use Alt I W, which is basically using the Excel 2003 dialog box, although that seems like a bit of a cheat.
And when I did some research to figure this out, it turns out it actually makes a lot of sense. Normally, if you have some numeric data and you want to create a chart from that day, you press the F11 key. So I think about that, F11 creates a brand new chart sheet.
If you want to create a brand new worksheet, what you do is use Shift+F11, Shift+F11 is the shortcut key to create a brand new sheet.
Also, inexplicably, using Alt+Shift+F1 would do it, although certainly Shift+F11 seems like a faster way to go.
Okay, now here's my quest, this came from Brad, Brad was at a seminar, he came up to me, he said “Look, I hate to use the mouse, I never want to touch the mouse, I always use keyboard shortcuts, and so I'm frequently editing a cell with F2.” By the way, if you want to edit a cell comment, I have a cell comment here, so F2 edits the cell, Shift+F2 will edit the comment, isn't that cool. But anyway, back to Brad's question, Brad says “I'm always hitting F2, and every once in a while, you know, out of every 100 times I hit F2, I accidentally hit F1, and that brings up Excel help.” And he says “That drives me crazy, because when Excel help pops up, there's no good way to close Excel help without reaching for the mouse. I am stuck reaching for the mouse, and then I have to reluctantly go hit the mouse to get rid of Excel help.” He says “Can I change what F1 does? Can I sign F1 to a macro, or even better yet, just assign F1 to do F2? Every time I hit F1 I'm not going to Excel help!
Why would I go to Excel help? Every time I hit F1, it clearly is an accidental, miss-strike where I was shooting for F2 and I can't figure out a good solution to this!” So I'm putting the challenge out to you, is there some nice keyboard application tool that you use that can re-route F1, and make it be like you would press F2? If you know the answer, then shoot me a quick note, Bill@MrExcel.com and you can win an Excel master-pin, and be featured on a future podcast. So you have it, lots of good Excel shortcut keys, some alternate shortcut keys, and a quest: How to make the F1 key no longer do Help, but instead basically do Edit Cell?
Hey, I want to thank you for stopping by, we’ll see you next time for another netcast from MrExcel!
