Shortcut Keys for Excel Charts

Using keyboard shortcuts when working with charts in Excel can save time and effort. The shortcuts are a necessary alternative to using a mouse. This tutorial details various shortcut keys for charts in Excel.

Shortcut Key for Creating an Embedded Chart

To create a default embedded chart on the active worksheet, we select the data source and press Alt + F1.

To show how this works, we will create an embedded chart based on the following dataset:

We use the following steps:

  1. Select the dataset.
Table, Excel

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  1. Press Alt + F1. This creates a default embedded chart in the active worksheet.
Chart, bar chart

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Shortcut Keys for Creating a Chart on a Chart Sheet

To create a default chart on a chart sheet, we select the data source and press F11.

To show how this works, we will create a chart on a chart sheet based on the following dataset:

Table

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We use the following steps:

  1. Select the dataset.
Table, Excel

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  1. Press F11. This creates a default chart on a chart sheet.

Shortcut Key for Duplicating an Embedded Chart

To duplicate a chart that is embedded in the active worksheet, we select the chart and press Ctrl + D or Command + D on a Mac.

We want to duplicate the following embedded chart.

Chart, bar chart

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We use the steps below:

  1. Select the chart. Handles appear around the border of the chart.
  1. Press Ctrl + D, or Command + D on a Mac. This creates a duplicate of the chart on top of the chart.
Chart, bar chart

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You can move the duplicate chart to another position on the worksheet.

Shortcut Keys for Moving a Chart

We can use the arrow keys to move an embedded chart to another location on the worksheet.

We want to move the following embedded chart to another location on the worksheet using the arrow keys.

Chart, bar chart

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We use the steps below:

  1. Press and hold down the Ctrl key and click any edge of the chart. Blue handles appear on the four corners of the chart.
  1. Press the appropriate navigation key to move the chart in the direction you want. For example, if we want to move the chart to the top of the worksheet, we press and hold down the up arrow and release it when the chart is in the position we want.

Shortcut Keys to Display a Task Pane

If we want to display the task pane for a chart element, we select the chart element and press Ctrl + 1.

We want to display the task pane for the chart title element of the following chart.

We use the steps below:

  1. Click the chart title to select it. Blue handles appear on the four corners of the border around the chart title.
  1. Press Ctrl + 1. This opens the Format Chart Title task pane.
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Shortcut Keys for Copying Formatting from One Chart to Another

To copy formatting from an embedded chart and paste it into another embedded chart, we use the following steps:

We use the steps below:

  1. Press and hold down the Ctrl key and click any edge of the chart. Release the Ctrl key. You see blue borders on the corners of the chart.
  2. Press Ctrl + C. This copies the chart.
  3. Press and hold the Ctrl key and click any edge of the chart to which we want to copy the formatting.
  4. Press Ctrl + Alt + V. The Paste Special dialog box appears.
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  1. Select Formats and click OK.
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We use the same steps to copy formatting from one chart on a chart sheet to another, except for the first step, where we select the chart by clicking just below the top edge of the chart.

Shortcut keys for Hiding and Displaying Embedded Charts

Embedded charts are objects, and therefore they can be hidden or displayed by pressing Ctrl + 6.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we looked at various shortcut keys for charts in Excel. We hope you found the information useful.

Tomasz Decker is an Excel specialist, skilled in data analysis and financial modeling.