Excel Ribbon is name for top area of MS Excel sheet. It displays different options and possibilities available in MS Excel in visual and user friendly manner as show in image below. Different in-built tabs are available in Ribbon i.e Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, Review and view. Certain tabs can be added to Ribbon
for example Acrobat etc.
It is always recommended to attain grip over navigation of options available in Ribbon, especially for new users. To explore Ribbon, certain short keys can be very helpful for fast navigation. We have summarized few of such short keys below,
Serial Number
|
Short Key
|
Action performed
|
1
|
Alt or F10
|
It is used to select the active tab of the Ribbon. It also activates the access keys. To cancel the selection, these keys should be pressed again to move back to the document and cancel the access keys.
|
2
|
Alt or F10 to select the active tab, and then arrow left or arrow right
|
It moves your selection to next tab of the Ribbon. For example if you are at Page Layout tab and press these keys, you will enter into Formulas tab.
|
3
|
Ctrl + F1
|
We did not explain this short key in our blog of function keys so you test it yourself. This results in most common problem being faced by new users. It minimizes or hides the Ribbon. Ribbon can be restored to its position through same combination.
|
4
|
Shift+ F10
|
This combination displays the shortcut menu for the selected command.
|
5
|
F6
|
It moves the focus to select either Active tab of the Ribbon, View Status bar at bottom of the window or document
|
6
|
Alt or F10, and then tab or Shift + Tab
|
This combination can move the focus to each command in the Ribbon either forward or backward.
|
7
|
Arrow down, arrow up, arrow left, or arrow right
|
Move down, up, left, or right respectively among the items in the Ribbon.
|
8
|
Spacebar or enter
|
It opens the selected menu or gallery in the Ribbon. It also activates the selected command or control in the Ribbon.
|
9
|
Enter
|
It activates a command or control in the Ribbon so one can modify a value. One can also finish modifying a value in a control in the Ribbon, and move focus back to the document through this key.
|
10
|
F1
|
Opens Help task pane as in all MS Office products.
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