Detailed spreadsheets are great, but sometimes seeing everything all at once can be overwhelming and confusing.

In this video, I will teach you how to group and ungroup rows and columns to only show what’s relevant and important.

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Have you ever looked at a spreadsheet and had the reaction of, whoa, too much information? If so, chances are that there’s information that could have been grouped and hidden from view.

In this video, I’m going to teach you the shortcut on how to group and ungroup rows and columns.

In the previous video, I showed you how to hide and unhide rows and columns. In contrast, this is all about grouping and ungrouping rows and columns which is actually the same thing except for one key difference.

So, I want to go ahead and select a couple of columns and then use my SHIFT + ALT + RIGHT if I’m on a PC or SHIFT + COMMAND + K if I’m on a Mac. What happens is not only am I able to expand or collapse by using the plus or minus, but I can actually interact with this interface in such a way that it’s visible and it’s obvious and it’s clear to the user, which is something that does not happen with hiding and unhiding.

To do the reverse, to actually ungroup the cells that have been grouped already. What you want to be able to do is select those cells, right, that actually have the grouping and then use your SHIFT + ALT + LEFT if you’re on a PC or SHIFT + COMMAND + J if you’re on a Mac and that will ungroup it and then you’ll lose the ability to hit the plus or minus sign.

Fun little memory tricks on how to keep these shortcuts at the top of your mind, if you are on the PC you want to think of shifting your alternative political views to the right. Think of right as conservative closed, hidden, grouped together.

In contrast, the shifting the alternative political views to the left. Left is more liberal, open, exposed, ungrouped. That’s the whole point. So, shift your alternative political views to the right, you get the deal.

On the Mac, the memory tricks are a little bit cuter I think, kumbaya is all that coming together as one group and jerk I don’t like camp songs. You’re isolated, you’re alone, you’re ungrouped. It’s kind of sad actually. But those are the keys associated with it.

One last thing I’ll point out on this page is you can actually use other shortcuts in combination with this such as the CTRL + SPACE or SHIFT + SPACE to select the entire column or row and the alternative is the unhiding columns or unhiding rows as I mentioned earlier.

This is great, Shir, but when would I use it? Well, let me show you some practical applications of it.

Here we have some data broken out by month, quarter and even by year. So, what would be useful is to in fact group, I’m going to hit CTRL + SPACE to select the entire column and shift to the right a couple times and select those cells. Now I’m going to hit SHIFT + ALT + RIGHT to start grouping the months. Notice I’m skipping over the quarter.

I’m going to do the same thing with Q2 or rather the months for Q2 the months for Q3, etc. until I get to the end. Now notice I can use the mouse to go like this and collapse each of these, so the only thing left is the relevant information I want. You’re actually taking up less space on the screen which is super valuable to get more information visible.

This is really applicable to many different scenarios especially when you’re rolling up data to show only high-level stuff. This is great for sales, for I don’t know marketing, pretty much any industry would be useful to have this.

If you don’t like to use the mouse at all like me, then when you’re expanding these cells over here and you don’t want to have to click on the button themselves, you can actually cheat a little bit by using the shortcuts in the previous video by in fact doing CTRL + 0 to hide which has the same effect as hitting that minus, it’s a nice little cheat.

And just like you can hide using CTRL + 0 to actually hide those columns, you can do the reverse by selecting all of them CTRL + SHIFT + 0 to show them which is the same as hitting the plus.

Now I’ve just given you quite a lot to work with but if you want to take this even further, you can actually group within groups. So, what I mean by that is we have all of our months here and all of our quarters but I want to actually group it also by the year.

So, I’ll take all of these, I’ll do my SHIFT + ALT + RIGHT and now I can collapse everything so only the year is showing, or if I go to level 2 only the quarters are showing, or level 3 all of the data is showing.

But enough about me, it’s time to actually have you try this out using some exercises to really internalize these concepts and these shortcuts. So, go ahead and make it all the way to the group columns exercise where you can actually say, “You know what, let’s take all three of these, let’s do my SHIFT + ALT + RIGHT” and because I didn’t actually select the columns first, I now get a pop-up, “What do you really want to do?” I wanted the columns.

So, this is why it’s a great tip to first select the columns or rows depending on what you want to do and then using the SHIFT + ALT + RIGHT. And so now I have that same option and I can collapse it that way, same idea here, let me do my CTRL + SPACE first, SHIFT + ALT + RIGHT and now I can collapse it and it looks identical.

Do this for all of these exercises and when you’re feeling frisky, go ahead and create a little challenge for yourself.

Don’t forget to visit excelshir.com where you can download these exercises, along with other free resources such as keyboard shortcut cheat sheets for both PC and Mac.

Thanks for watching, see you next time. And remember, neither snow nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night should prevent you from sharing the Excel love. I may have borrowed that one.

Ever wish you could temporarily hide certain cells in your spreadsheet, without deleting them?

Well you can, and in this video I’ll show you how with a few easy to remember Excel Shortcuts.

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Have you ever gotten a spreadsheet from a colleague that had way too many columns that you really couldn’t delete, but you wanted to temporarily hide?

In this video, I’m going to teach you how to hide whatever you don’t need and then bring it back in the end to leave your spreadsheet and your brain clutter-free.

Hiding and unhiding rows and columns is one of those things that is super helpful, especially if you’re trying to declutter your sheet temporarily, or even if you really don’t need to show things at all times.

Another way is to have someone give you a sheet that you’re not quite seeing everything and you know there’s something behind the scenes, this is a great time to try unhiding first before, you know, basically yelling at them. That’s how you want to keep in mind how to do this.

Now, to actually do it, you’re going to use the CTRL + 0 to hide your columns, CTRL + 9 to hide your rows. Now, notice it kind of works in pairs. To hide it, you’re using CTRL. To unhide it, you’re going to add the SHIFT key. So, let’s go through these.

If I’m highlighting this cell here and I hit CTRL + 0, it’s going to hide that entire column. If I select numerous cells first and then do CTRL + 0, it’s going to hide them all as one. That’s pretty much how that works.

And if you want to unhide, here’s the trick. You have to overlap the selection so that the hidden columns are included in the selection. Then you do your CTRL + SHIFT + 0 to bring it back to life.

Same exact concept for the hiding of the rows. CTRL + 9 will hide that one. If I do a couple of selected cells first, CTRL + 9 will get all of those hidden, and again, I can now choose a whole bunch of rows that overlap it, CTRL + SHIFT + 9, and they’re back as they were.

One of those rare times where Mac and PC are identical, and really, just enjoy anytime that happens, because it doesn’t happen very often.

And there’s a couple memory tricks, too, to keep these in the top of your head. So, if you want to think of the 0 and the 9 as sharing the keys with the parentheses, it’s like a hidden thought, so therefore you’re hiding certain rows or columns.

And again, CTRL by itself will hide it, but CTRL and SHIFT will reverse that action and actually unhide or bring them back to the way they were.

I’ve created some exercises to help you really internalize and remember these shortcuts, so go through and make the section on the left match the example on the right. And in this case, you’ll have to go ahead and select certain cells, and CTRL + 0 to hide it.

You might select numerous and do it all at once, but the point is to make them match identically. Go through, try these out. You may have to do some unhiding first. And in the challenge, you can make a smiley face, and I’ll be happy.

Don’t forget to visit excelshir.com where you can download these exercises, along with other free resources such as keyboard shortcut cheat sheets for both PC and Mac.

Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time. And meanwhile, don’t forget to share the Excel love, because it just makes everything better.

Ever find yourself doing the same thing in Excel over and over again? If only there was a single keyboard shortcut to repeat your last action.

Fortunately there is, and it’s the subject of today’s video!

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I’m going to let you in on a little secret. There is a single keyboard shortcut that can be used to repeat the last action, whatever that action may be, and in this video, I’m going to teach you the least known and most helpful formatting shortcut.

F4 is one of my favorite shortcuts, because it’s extremely versatile and can be used to do pretty much anything. Some great examples are to repeat Insert Cells, repeat Highlight Cells, or repeat copying and pasting of formatting.

We’ll go through those in a second, but really, think of it as just the Fantastic Four fixing broken records. Why broken records? Because it’s happening over and over again. And Fantastic Four, F4. I mean, that’s pretty cool.

So, what you want to keep in mind is it’s the same shortcut for both PC and Mac, and it’s one of those rare times, so really enjoy that.

There’s one drawback here, which is that you might have a situation where you can kind of lose your work as you go if you do something in the middle. So, if I’m actually taking this, and let’s say pasting the formatting here all at once, I’m going to now repeat that action over here, over here. And notice how it’s doing this, but if I do something else and I try and repeat now, it won’t do it because I did something recently. So, keep that in mind as you go through.

I’ve created some exercises to practice and really internalize these shortcuts. So, go ahead and make the left section here match with the section on the right. So, use that Insert Cells to CTRL + + (plus) shift cells to the right, and now, instead of doing that same shortcut, just hit your F4, F4. Same idea here. It will remember exactly what you did.

Even cooler is that if you choose it a little differently, and you do CTRL + + (plus) over here, and do Down, it’s going to remember that as opposed to to the right. A nice little nugget for you to enjoy.

Same concept with repeat Highlight Cells. As soon as you highlight it, you can actually repeat that, which was then your last step. So, highlight it again and hit F4, it’ll apply to that new selection. You get the idea. Enjoy and actually practice this until you get it.

Don’t forget to visit excelshir.com where you can download these exercises, along with other free resources such as keyboard shortcut cheat sheets for both PC and Mac.

Thanks for watching, and see you next time. Don’t forget to share the Excel love. You thought I was going to forget, didn’t you?

Instead of hitting the “Panic Button” whenever you make a mistake, use this Excel Shortcut to Undo the last action.

There are a few key things to keep in mind though, so watch this video and learn how to undo and redo like a boss.

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If you’ve ever accidentally deleted something and wanted to bring it back to life, before having a nervous breakdown, use the shortcut I’m about to teach you.

Undo is a spectacular shortcut because it lets you make mistakes and still be able to recover from them, and Redo is the perfect complement to it because it undoes the Undo, which actually sounds really more confusing than it should be, but really, all I’m saying is CTRL + Z will undo and go back in time to the last action, and CTRL + Y will go forwards in time, or redo the last action.

So again, on the PC, it’s as simple as that. CTRL + Z to Undo, CTRL + Y to Redo. Mac, same idea. COMMAND + Z and COMMAND + Y.

Think of it this way. The Z is the last letter of the alphabet, and to undo the last thing that you did. And of course, if you go too far, well, “Y did you undo that? I wanted to keep it in there.” That’s your little memory trick for you.

And why not put these shortcuts to use in this following exercise right here, where you take this format over here and then actually make it look like it does on the side here? All you have to do, really, is clear contents with the little DEL key, and then when you’re done with all of this, you’re going to undo everything and then redo everything, and you’re going to see it play out in magical slow motion. It’s going to be amazing.

This is actually one of those other helpful tips, couple of Shir words of wisdom for you. You can actually go back in time a number of different steps, but don’t ever rely on this, because sometimes it will actually not go back any further if you push the limit here. So instead, save copies, save backups, before you do any kind of major change, anything important.

Also, you want to use the CTRL + Z and CTRL + Y, the Undo and Redo, for a quick visual comparison, like, “What does it look like with it, what does it look like without it?” and this is a great way to kind of visually compare how two things look without having to essentially retype everything every time. So use that, enjoy it, and learn it really well.

Don’t forget to visit excelshir.com where you can download these exercises, along with other free resources such as keyboard shortcut cheat sheets for both PC and Mac.

Thanks for watching. See you next time, and in the brilliant words of FDR, “The only thing we have to fear is not sharing the Excel love.” Words to live by.

If you are still re-formatting your spreadsheets from scratch every time, you are throwing away hours of your life needlessly.

Instead, you can copy and paste formatting only, using the shortcut in this video.

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Copying and pasting formatting is one of the most time-saving shortcuts you will ever learn, because it lets you take your previous work and apply it anywhere you want in a snap.

You may not know this, but when you’ve been copying and pasting for all these years, you’re pasting everything that came with it. So, the formulas, the formatting, the other properties behind the scenes that you may not have even seen. The beauty of this shortcut is that you learn how to copy and paste the formatting only, and the key to this is with Paste Special.

So, the only way this works is, first, you’re going to actually take the cell that has the formatting that you want, select it, copy it with CTRL + C on the PC and COMMAND + C on the Mac, and then choose the cell that has…essentially where you want to apply it to, and then you’re going to do a CTRL + ALT + V on the PC, right? You’re doing a regular paste with CTRL + V, but a Paste Special by adding the ALT key in there, which brings you to this Paste Special window.

You can move up and down with the arrows, or better yet, you can actually jump to the specific option you want by going to whatever’s underlined. So, ALT + T for formats, and notice that you can just hit ENTER and apply this formatting to this spot right here, hit ESC to get out of it.

So, the key is to copy first, then choose where you want to apply it to, CTRL + ALT + V for Paste Special, and ALT + T to jump to that spot on the window.

On the Mac, it’s very much the same thing, the shortcut is a tiny bit different. And so what you need to do here is copy with COMMAND + C, choose the cell you want and CTRL + COMMAND + V to get the Paste Special, and this time you’ll hit the fn + T for format.

Basically, you can’t use F because that’s for formulas. So, the T over here is underlined, on the PC at least, and it gives you an indication. So, here you’re just kind of flying blind, but it’s okay, just hit ENTER and it’ll apply it for you, and hit ESC to be out of it. And that’s basically how that works.

Let’s now take this in action and go to some exercise where you can actually drill this in and remember these shortcuts by practicing it over and over again, take the left side over here and make it look like the right.

And in this case, you’re going to take this format over here, you can copy a bunch at once like so and Paste Special the format only. And then you’ll have exactly the right look.

Notice there’s some border issues going on, so you can’t do it all at once, you may have to do it in sections. But I’ll let you figure that one out because that’s even more fun that way.

Don’t forget to visit excelshir.com where you can download these exercises, along with other free resources such as keyboard shortcut cheat sheets for both PC and Mac.

Thanks for watching, see you next time. And I believe it was Tony Robbins who said, “The path to enlightenment is through sharing the Excel love.” I’m a big fan.