Excel Navigation

It is a given that Efficient Navigation in Excel can save you time and even a little frustration.  Even discovering and using one or two new tricks can save you several hours over the course of a year.

Here are three ways to accelerate your ability to traverse the seas of your workbooks:

1.     Jump to the End or Start of a Column
If you work with very large worksheets that contain thousands of rows of data, you may occasionally find yourself far from the beginning of your column.  The comparative drudgery of scrolling back to the top can be easily overcome by using CTRL + ↑.  The opposite (CTRL + ↓) takes you immediately to the last nonblank cell in your column.

Note:  If you combine the SHIFT key with the foregoing, you will instantly select all contiguous date (Cool!).

2.     Jump between Worksheets
If you use this technique, you know that moving from one worksheet to another doesn't necessarily entail using your mouse.  You can move to the worksheet to the right by clicking CTRL + PGDN, and as you probably would guess, you can pop to the worksheet to the left by pressing CTRL + PGUP.

3.     Use the Name Box for Quick Navigation
Let’s say you have a very large worksheet, and you know that you want to go to the start of your list of California offices in Cell QM22879.  Rather than slogging down to the cell with your mouse, you can simply insert the cell address in the Name Box, click, and Bamm, you are there!

Take 5 minutes to master these three simple shortcuts, and see if they don’t save you a bit of time this month.  Who knows, you might be able to leave the office a few minutes early…