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Format (almost) anything

Windows shortcut 
Ctrl1
Mac shortcut 
⌘1

This shortcut is a gateway to many formatting options, even when the ribbon is collapsed. When regular cells are selected, it displays the Format Cells dialog box with the "last tab used" selected. This is a very fast way to access font controls, borders and fills, alignment options, and number formats from anywhere in Excel.

Format cells dialog box

When you're working with a chart, the same shortcut will open various formatting dialogs, depending on what you have selected. For example, if you have the chart area selected, it will open the Format Chart Area dialog. If you have data bars selected, it will open the Format Data Series dialog, and so on. You can also also use this shortcut when working with shapes and smart art.

See all shortcuts

Related videos

The videos below demonstrate this shortcut.
How to add a secondary axis to a chart
In this video, we'll look at how to add a secondary axis to chart. A secondary axis allows you to data with a different scale in the same chart.
How to remove existing borders and fills in Excel
In this video we show you how to quickly remove all borders and fills when you want to start fresh. This is a good idea when you've inherited a messy worksheet.
How to apply a border to cells in Excel
In this video we show you how cell borders work in Excel and how to control which parts of a selection have borders.
How to add a conditional formatting key
In this lecture, we show you how to add a key to the worksheet that shows the rules used to apply conditional formatting.
How to use VLOOKUP
In this video learn how to use VLOOKUP to build a simple form to extract employee information from a table in about three minutes. VLOOKUP is a key Excel function.

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