{"id":316,"date":"2018-06-27T17:15:56","date_gmt":"2018-06-27T17:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/?p=316"},"modified":"2024-03-26T16:03:54","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T16:03:54","slug":"highlight-a-cell-with-a-keyboard-shortcut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/examples\/highlight-a-cell-with-a-keyboard-shortcut\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlight a Cell With a Keyboard Shortcut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>If you are looking for a keyboard shortcut to highlight a cell with a color, I have bad news for you, you won\u2019t find any. But, as in many other cases, there are workarounds that will help you deal with this problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Below, are a few methods to achieve the desired effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Left Alt &gt;&gt; H &gt;&gt; H<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The first method is not the standard keyboard shortcut, but rather a way to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/en\/training\/ribbon\">control the ribbon with a keyboard<\/a>. In this method, you press&nbsp;<strong>Left Alt<\/strong>, release the button, then press the&nbsp;<strong>H<\/strong>&nbsp;button twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It won\u2019t highlight a cell but will open the menu, where you will be able to choose your color with a mouse&nbsp;or keyboard arrows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"206\" height=\"264\" src=\"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/06\/theme-colors.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-317\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quick Access Toolbar Theme Colors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There is another, faster way to access&nbsp;<strong>Theme Colors<\/strong>. You can add a new&nbsp;<strong>Fill Color<\/strong>&nbsp;icon in the Quick Access Toolbar on the first position. If you don\u2019t know how to do it, read&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/en\/training\/quick-access-toolbar\">this lesson<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"282\" height=\"249\" src=\"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/06\/fill-color-icon.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-318\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The F4 keyboard shortcut<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You can use&nbsp;<strong><span class=\"shortcut\">F4<\/span><\/strong>&nbsp;to repeat the last action. So if you\u2019ve just <a href=\"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/vba\/change-cell-color-based-on-value-with-vba\/\">changed the background color of a cell<\/a>, you can use this shortcut to fill the next cell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"353\" height=\"80\" src=\"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/06\/f4-cell-fill.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-319\" srcset=\"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/06\/f4-cell-fill.png 353w, https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/06\/f4-cell-fill-300x68.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 353px) 100vw, 353px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In the above example, we filled cell&nbsp;<strong>B2<\/strong>&nbsp;with a color, then used the&nbsp;<strong>F4<\/strong>&nbsp;keyboard shortcut to <a href=\"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/training\/filling-cells\/\">fill cell&nbsp;<strong>D2<\/strong><\/a><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Macro<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The last keyboard shortcut I would like to present is the one assigned by you to a macro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fastest way to create a macro is to use the little icon in the bottom left corner of the worksheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"235\" height=\"51\" src=\"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/06\/record-a-macro.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-320\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When a new window appears, choose a name for a new macro, but more importantly choose a keyboard shortcut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s say we want&nbsp;<strong>Ctrl + Shift + Q<\/strong>&nbsp;to be our shortcut. In order to assign it to the macro place your cursor in the&nbsp;<strong>Shortcut Key<\/strong>&nbsp;area and press&nbsp;<strong>Shift + Q<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"123\" height=\"44\" src=\"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/06\/shortcut-key-area.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-322\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The window should look like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"358\" height=\"294\" src=\"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/06\/record-macro-window.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-323\" srcset=\"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/06\/record-macro-window.png 358w, https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/06\/record-macro-window-300x246.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 358px) 100vw, 358px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When you click&nbsp;<strong>OK,<\/strong>&nbsp;the macro starts to record your movements. Now, you must fill any cell with the desired color and click the&nbsp;<strong>Stop Recording<\/strong>&nbsp;button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"233\" height=\"51\" src=\"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/06\/stop-recording.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-324\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Click any cell and use&nbsp;<strong>Ctrl + Shift + Q<\/strong>&nbsp;to fill it with color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CAUTION<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You can use a keyboard shortcut without the shift key, but you have to remember that many shortcuts in Excel are, by default, assigned to other tasks. If you use, for example, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/en\/keyboard-shortcuts\/copy-selected-data\"><span class=\"shortcut\">Ctrl + C<\/span><\/a>&nbsp;then its default task (copying) will be replaced by filling a cell with a color, so it\u2019s probably safer to use a bit more complicated shortcuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are looking for a keyboard shortcut to highlight a cell with a color, I have bad news for you, you won\u2019t&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[190],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Highlight a Cell With a Keyboard Shortcut<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to highlight cells in Excel using keyboard shortcuts, 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