Exceljet

Quick, clean, and to the point

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 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.
Excel charting tools overview
In this video, we'll take a look at the tools that Excel provides for creating and managing charts.
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 use fraction formatting in Excel
In this video we show you how to format numbers as fractions.
The Format Task pane
This video takes a look at the Format Task Pane, a tool which provides detailed options to format most chart elements.

Download 200+ Excel Shortcuts

Get over 200 Excel shortcuts for Windows and Mac in one handy PDF.