Microsoft Office is arguably the most popular productivity tool in the world, having been a staple of basically every Windows PC for over two decades. And yet, making the most of it can be a struggle. Most of us are probably content with the way we use Office, but learning a few keyboard shortcuts will go a long way in helping you get work done faster, so we're here to help with that.

We've rounded up over 100 keyboard shortcuts to help you get things done in Office, from the more basic ones to some that are a bit more specific but still very useful. Let's dive right in.

The basics

These are shortcuts that work in multiple, if not all Office apps, and sometimes even outside of them.

Text editing and formatting

• Ctrl + C - Copy selected text
• Ctrl + X - Cut selected text
• Ctrl + V - Paste copied or cut text.
• Ctrl + Alt + V - Open the Paste Special menu for additonal pasting options.
• Ctrl + F - Find text within a document, page, workbook, or slideshow (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote).
• Ctrl + K - Add hyperlink to selected text
• Ctrl + Z - Undo the last action
• Ctrl + Y - Redo the last undone action
• Ctrl + B - Bold selected text or start writing in bold
• Ctrl + I - Enable or disable italic text
• Ctrl + U - Underline text
• Ctrl + Alt + C - Insert the copyright logo (©)
• Ctrl + Alt + R - Insert the registered trademark logo (®)
• Ctrl + A - Select all content in a given view This command varies depending on the context. For Example, in Word, it will select all the text in a document. In Excel, it selects all the cells in a worksheet, but when editing a cell, it will select all the content in that cell. In Outlook, it can select all the messages in a message list, or it can select the text in a message depending on where the focus is.
• Ctrl + Left/right arrow - Move text cursor one word to the left or right.
  • Ctrl + Up/down arrow - Move text cursor up or down one paragraph.

    You can hold Shift while using these commands to select text while moving the cursor

• Shift + F3 - Switch between sentence case, lower case, and upper case for selected text (not available in the new Outlook or OneNote)
• Ctrl + = (equal sign) - Enable subscript text (not available in Excel or the new Outlook)
• Ctrl + + (plus sign) - Enable superscript text (not available in Excel or the new Outlook)
• Ctrl + E - Center text (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook Classic)
• Ctrl + L - Align text to the left (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook Classic)
• Ctrl + R - Align text to the right (Word PowerPoint, Outlook Classic)
• Ctrl + J - Justify text (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook Classic)
• Ctrl + Spacebar - Remove subscript or superscript formatting
• Ctrl + Shift + > - Increase font size following the list of font sizes available in the Ribbon. Ctrl + < decreases font size. In OneNote, font sizes are changed by a single point for each press. (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote).
• Ctrl + ] (right bracket) - Increase font size by one point. Ctrl + [ (left bracket) decreases font size. (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook Classic).

App commands and ribbon controls

• ​​​Ctrl + O - Open a file or document
• Ctrl + S - Save your current document or file
• Ctrl + N - Create a new document, presentation, spreadsheet, etc (depending on the app)
• Ctrl + W - Close the current document or file (doesn't work in OneNote or Outlook)
• Ctrl + P - Print the document, spreadsheet, or presentation.
• Alt - Show access keys for ribbon controls. You can press the indicated key to access the corresponding option.
• Alt + Q - Open the Search bar
• Alt + F - Open the File tab (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook Classic)
• Alt + H - Switch to the Home tab (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook Classic)
• Alt + N - Switch to the Insert tab (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote)
• Alt + J - Switch to the Draw tab (PowerPoint)
• Alt + A - Switch to the Data tab in Excel; Animations tab in PowerPoint
• Alt + K - Switch to the Transitions tab (PowerPoint)
• Alt + G - Switch to the Design tab (Word, PowerPoint)
• Alt + P - Switch to the Layout tab in Word; Page Layout tab in Excel
• Alt + S - Switch to the References tab in Word; Slide Show tab in PowerPoint
• Alt + M - Switch to the Mailings tab in Word; Formulas tab in Excel
• Alt + C - Switch to the Recording tab (PowerPoint)
• Alt + R - Switch to the Review tab (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote)
• Alt + W - Switch to the View tab (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook Classic)
• Alt + Y - Switch to the Help tab
• Alt + N, W (in order) - Insert WordArt
• Alt + N, P, D (in order) - Insert picture from your device
• Alt + N, S, H (in order) - Insert a shape
• Ctrl + Alt + M - Insert comment (Word, PowerPoint, Excel)

Keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Word

Now, we move on to shortcuts that are more app-specific, starting with Word, arguably the most popular app of the bunch:

• Ctrl + Shift + A - Switch between uppercase and lowercase text (you can type after this or use the shortcut to change selected text)
• Ctrl + Shift + K - Switch between small uppercase and lowercase text (also works for selected text)
• Ctrl + M - Indent paragraph (repeat for further indentation). Ctrl + Shift + M removes indentation.
• Ctrl + T - Create handing indent. Ctrl + Shift + T removes indent.
• Ctrl + 1 - Add single spacing to paragraph
• Ctrl + 2 - Add double spacing to paragraph
• Ctrl + 5 - Add 1.5-line spacing to paragraph
• Ctrl + 0 - Add or remove space before the paragraph
• Ctrl + Q - Remove paragraph formatting
• Ctrl + Shift + N - Apply Normal style to paragraph
• Ctrl + Shift + 1/2/3 - Apply Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3 style to a paragraph
• Shift + Enter - Line break
• Ctrl + Enter - Page break
• Ctrl + Shift + Enter - Column break
• Shift + F5 - Move cursor to the previous revision in the document. You can press this right after opening a document to go to the last change you made when you last worked on it.
• Ctrl + Alt + T - Insert trademark symbol (™). This also works in Outlook Classic.
• Alt + N, M (in order) - Insert Smart Art

Keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Excel

Excel is another very popular app in Office, and it too has a great number of shortcuts available.

• Alt + H, D, C (in order) - Delete active column
• Alt + H, D, R (in order) - Delete active row
• Ctrl + 9 - Hide selected columns
• Ctrl + 0 - Hide selected rows
• Ctrl + Enter - Move to the end of the current region
• Ctrl + 1 - Open Format Cells dialog
• Ctrl + Shift + F - Format font in the Format Cells dialog.
• Ctrl + Shift + ~ (tilde) - Apply the General format to numbers in selected cells
• Ctrl + Shift + $ (dollar sign) - Apply the Currency format to selected cells
• Ctrl + Shift + % (percent symbol) - Apply the Percentage format to selected cells
• Ctrl + Shift + ^ (caret symbol) - Apply the Scientific format to selected cells
• Ctrl + Shift + # (number sign) - Apply the Date format to selected cells
• Ctrl + Shift + @ - Apply the Time format to selected cells (hours and minutes)
• Ctrl + Shift + ! - Apply the Number format to selected cells, with two decimal points and a thousands separator.
• Shift + F2 - Add/edit note to a cell
• Ctrl + Shift + F2 - Insert a threaded comment in a cell
• Ctrl + Shift + - (minus) - Open the Insert dialog
• Ctrl + Shift + : (colon) - Insert the current time into the selected cell
• Ctrl + ; (semi-colon) - Insert the current date into the selected cell
• Ctrl + ` (grave accent) - Switch between displaying formulas and values in cells
• Ctrl + ' (apostrophe) - Copy formula from the cell above into the current cell.
• Ctrl + Shift + " (quotation mark) - Copy value from the cell above the current cell
• Ctrl + Shift + U - Expand or collapse the formula bar
• Ctrl + L - Create a table
• Ctrl + Q - Open the Quick Analysis panel.
• Ctrl + Shift + G - Open workbook statistics
• Shift + F9 - Calculate the active worksheet
• Ctrl + Alt + F9 - Calculate all worksheets in a open workbook

Keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft PowerPoint

PowerPoint is the last of the big three apps in Office, and it has its own set of important keyboard shortcuts.

• Ctrl + M - Add new slide
• Ctrl + Shift + D - Duplicate the selected slide
• Ctrl + T - Open the Font dialog box
• Ctrl + Shift + C - Copy formatting from selected text. Select a different piece of text and press Ctrl + Shift + V to apply the copied formatting to it.
• Alt + Shift + C - Copy animation effect from selected text. Click another object to apply the same animation to it. Press Esc to cancel the copy action.
• Ctrl + D - Duplicate selected objects. Alternatively, you can hold Ctrl and then click and drag the object to duplicate it and move it.
• Ctrl + G - Group selected objects. Ctrl + Shift + G ungroups them.
• Alt + Left/right arrows - When an object is selected, rotate the object 15 degrees in either direction.
• Ctrl + Spacebar - Play/pause media in PowerPoint.
• Alt + = (equal sign) - Insert equation
• Alt + W, P, N (in order) - Show or hide notes
• Ctrl + arrows (when the slide list is in focus) - Move current slide up or down in the slideshow order.

While these aren't necessarily shortcuts, if you're creating a bulleted list, it also helps to know that you can use different bullet types by using different characters. To do this, enter the characters below, follwed by a space, then the text of your first bullet point, and then press Enter:

• * (asterisk) - Rounded bullets
• - (hyphen) - Hyphen bullets
• > ("greater than" symbol) - Arrow bullets
• <> ("smaller than" and "greater than" symbols) - Diamond bullets
• --> (two hyphens and a "greather than" symbol) - Arrows
• => (equal sign and "greater than" symbol) - Double arrows

Finally, there are some additonal commands that are worth knowing for when you're presenting:

• F5 - Start presentation form the beginning of the slideshow
• Shift + F5 - Start presentation from current slide
• Alt + F5 - Enter Presenter view
• B (during a presentation) - Show a blank black slide. W shows a white blank slide instead.

Microsoft Outlook

Finally, we have a handful of shortcuts specifically to Outlook. There aren't as many here, but these are still worth knowing. We're focusing on the new version of Outlook here, since it is replacing Outlook Classic in the future, but most shortcuts should work for both,

• Shift + Enter - Open message in a new window
• Ctrl + F - Forward message
• Ctrl + R - Reply to message
• Ctrl + Shift + R - Reply all
• Ctrl + Q - Mark as read
• Ctrl + U - Mark as unread
• Ctrl + > - Next message (not available in Outlook Classic)
• Ctrl + < - Previous message (not available in Outlook Classic)
• Shift + Delete - Permanently delete a message (instead of sending it to the Deleted folder).

Maximize your productivity with shortcuts

We haven't covered every single Office shortcut in this article, far from it. We focused on the most useful shortcuts for the most popular apps, and you're very likely to learn something new here. But we'd love to hear about what shortcuts you're using that might be missing from this list, so be sure to sound off in the comments.