The pros and cons of keyboard shortcuts in Excel
If you’re a Microsoft Excel user, chances are you’ll find some keyboard shortcuts useful. Or maybe you’re tired of being constantly tied to your mouse and having to search the ribbon or toolbars to find the command you need. Either way, this article should help you understand the value, and sometimes the detriment, of Excel’s many keyboard shortcuts that are built into the interface. By reading these tips, you will have a clear understanding of the pros and cons of keeping your hands on the keyboard and away from the mouse when using Excel.
Improve speed and efficiency
Obviously, the word shortcut implies that a certain amount of time is being saved here. The main point of a keyboard shortcut is that you don’t have to take your hands off the keys to grab the mouse; you just enter a keystroke or a combination of keystrokes and it achieves the same thing that you would get by clicking on the toolbar. . Using these shortcuts can get you done the same amount of work in less time, leads to less wasted motion, and literally puts some powerful Excel commands at your fingertips. Not only that, but it can help you reinforce your general knowledge of Excel’s capabilities.
Improve your familiarity with Excel in general
When you learn the shortcut for a command, such as Ctrl-Z for the Undo command, your general familiarity with the Excel interface improves. You’ll be more likely to try new commands and remember that they exist if there’s a quick and easy way to run them. As you become more familiar with all of Excel’s capabilities, you may be inclined to use it more frequently in your work and try it out with new tasks. This will again bolster your general Excel skills, but there are also some detrimental factors with using shortcuts.
potential problems
While saving time and movement can have a big effect on your productivity, it’s not all warm and fuzzy. One problem is that by limiting your overall range of motion for long periods of time, you risk some physical problems. For one, without a chance to rest your hands after typing, you might experience more muscle fatigue, which is obviously counterproductive to getting more work done. Since you won’t be moving your eyes to the top of the screen as often to find commands, you may also end up with more eye strain. Finally, there is a real possibility of carpal tunnel injury or other repetitive stress injury.
To avoid these issues, you should make sure you take frequent breaks from your computer throughout the day and make sure you stretch your arms and hands to keep them flexible and reduce stress. As you can see, there are many benefits to using keyboard shortcuts in Excel, but also some concerns to be aware of.
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