Daily posts of Excel tips…and other stuff
Why am I just hearing of this? Keyboard Shortcuts for Applying Borders. I’ve always wondered why the Border tab of Format Cells didn’t have hotkeys. Now I know - it did. This will be a great time saver for me. It appears that it only applies to Excel 2002 and newer, but if you have an older version handy, check it out and post a comment.
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John Walkenbach:
Dick, I tried to tell you about those shortcuts at the last MVP Summit, but you were too busy drinking beer. Maybe next time you’ll listen to me.
1 August 2006, 12:58 pmJason B:
Neat trick. These are actually easy to remember and will be far better than trying to click those darn tiny lines when there’s a deadline.
What kind of beer was it?
1 August 2006, 2:45 pmBrett:
Ctrl+Shift+7 will outline selection without going through the Format Cells dialogue.
1 August 2006, 3:25 pmShawn S.:
I only now realized that you can do diagonal borders in Excel. I think I’m going to use them all the time!
1 August 2006, 4:41 pmHaffy:
I must be doing something wrong - I can’t get the ALT+ shortcuts to work (using 2003).
Ctrl+Shift+7 works like a dream. Now what’s the shortcut for a dotted, red border on three sides and a thick, blue border along the bottom?
If we’re talking shortcuts, one I learned recently is Ctrl+` (the key to the left of the 1 along the top of the keyboard). It toggles between showing formulae and values.
2 August 2006, 4:33 amRaymond:
Does not work on Excel 2000 (pity)
2 August 2006, 4:53 amBrett:
Haffy,
You do have to have the Format Cells dialogue (shortcut Ctrl + 1), borders Tab active for the Alt keys to work. For the custom formats: I record a macro while formatting and assign the shortcut there.
Brett
2 August 2006, 6:44 amPragmatic Cynic:
A couple they don’t mention in the article:
ALT+O outlines the cells
2 August 2006, 9:55 amALT+I give interior (vertical and horizontal)
ALT+N removes all borders
ALT+C brings up the color pallette
Haffy:
Thanks, Brett
2 August 2006, 10:01 amGreg:
Crtl+Shift+_ (That’s the dash/underscore key - right of zero) will remove all borders from the selected range.
2 August 2006, 12:52 pmJRod:
Ctrl+Shift+& gives the border (top,bottom,left and right)
2 August 2006, 8:54 pmHaffy:
John W - forget the new Excel Bible - just right a book containing ALL the Excel keyboard shortcuts. Everyone would buy it!
3 August 2006, 2:05 amsam:
Haffy
3 August 2006, 2:18 amNot the mousers like me….