How to Get Excel-Like Shortcuts in Google Sheets

I recently moved from Investment Banking to Strategic Finance and one of the biggest annoyances was moving to Google Sheets and losing all the keyboard shortcuts that made me an Excel power user. After searching for a bit, I found two primary ways to make Google Sheets feel very, very similar to Excel which I’ll explain below.

Tip #1: Enable Native Keyboard Shortcuts in Google Sheets

Google Sheets actually has a built-in compatibility mode that most people don’t know about. Here’s how to turn it on:

• Open a new workbook and navigate to Help → Keyboard Shortcuts.
• Turn on the button that says “Enable compatible spreadsheet shortcuts.”

This will enable a very basic Excel-like feel for keyboard navigation of your spreadsheet, including:

• F4 to lock formulas
• Copy and paste
• Fill down and fill over
• Paste format and paste values
• Insert rows and columns

This is a great starting point, but it only covers the basics. If you’re coming from a power-user workflow with Macabacus, Factset, or heavy Alt-key usage, you’ll want the next tip.

Tip #2: Download a Chrome Extension for 95% Excel Similarity

My favorite extension for this is XLKeys. It’s a super simple one-click install, free to use, and gives me all the shortcuts and formatting shortcuts I used to use with Macabacus and Factset in Excel. Including:

• Color and formatting shortcuts
• Number formatting shortcuts
• Fill cell shortcuts (Alt+H, H for fill color)
• Alt-key sequences (Alt+H, O, I for autofit column width and more)
• Go back to last cell (Alt+G, B)
• Trace Precedents and Trace Dependents
• Sensitivity Tables for what-if analysis