Musicians know that the way forward is to practise their scales. It’s just the same with shortcuts in financial modelling.
When I am running my financial modelling courses, the first thing I ask the delegates to do is to remove the mouse. This is often met with concern and, to be fair, it is a little bit like telling somebody who has been driving a car for years that they are now going to have to drive in a completely different way.
Using a mouse wastes so much time. Effort spent making sure that you repeat shortcuts over and over again will, I promise, embed them in your brain and leave you free to tackle the harder problems in financial modelling. Repetition causes the brain to rewire and it it not surprising that delegates on my courses report of dreaming of shortcuts overnight.
Here is a selection of ten of the lesser known shortcuts that you may find helpful:
Alt H O I autofits columns
Alt M D traces dependents
F2 edits the formula (press once for “edit” mode and press again for “point” or “enter” mode to move to cells)
Alt F4 exits (like clicking on the x at the top right)
F5 is Go To (useful for navigation and Go To Special)
F12 is Save As
Ctrl # is the most useful date format
Ctrl ! formats to two decimal places (but with no brackets for negatives)
Ctrl + or – inserts or removes
Ctrl [ and then F5 enter to return. Moves to first cell of the formula. Unfortunately, this handy shortcut is not available on all keyboards, although there is a double left click alternative (if “Edit Directly in Cell” in the advanced options is switched off).
Note: Underlining means that the key should be held down.
If you remove the mouse and practise your shortcuts, then I guarantee that you will become a more efficient financial modeller. And please imagine trying to play the piano with a mouse: Beethoven would be out of reach.
There is a comprehensive shortcut section (along with far more information) in my book The Essentials of Financial Modelling