Guides

How to do the Excel things you rely on in Google Sheets, with and without ShortieCuts.

• Trace Precedents and Dependents in Google SheetsCtrl + [ and Ctrl + ], step by step, plus native workarounds.
• Alt + H + O + I in Google SheetsAutoFit column width the Excel way.
• Excel Shortcuts That Don't Work in Google Sheets (and How To Get Them Back)The basic copy, paste and formatting keys carry over from Excel to Google Sheets. The keys that make an analyst fast mostly do not: the Alt ribbon, F4 repeat, Ctrl + [ tracing, Ctrl + 9 and Ctrl + 0, one-stroke freeze panes and Goal Seek.
• Goal Seek in Google Sheets for Excel UsersGoogle Sheets has no Goal Seek command. ShortieCuts adds one on the same Alt + A + W + G keys Excel uses, with the same three boxes, so you can backsolve a model in Sheets the way you would in Excel.
• Freeze Panes in Google Sheets for Excel UsersExcel freezes rows and columns together from the selected cell with Alt + W + F + F. Google Sheets makes you set rows and columns separately from the View menu. ShortieCuts restores the one-stroke version.
• Paste Special in Google Sheets for Excel UsersGoogle Sheets has a Paste special menu and two native shortcuts, but none of Excel's Alt + H + V or Alt + E + S sequences. Here is the full key map, the one shortcut that means something different, and what Sheets cannot do at all.
• F4 and Absolute References in Google SheetsIn Google Sheets, F4 cycles a reference through its dollar-sign forms while you edit a formula, just as in Excel. Excel's other F4, repeat last action, is missing natively; ShortieCuts brings it back.
• Every Excel ALT Shortcut in Google SheetsThe full list of key sequences ShortieCuts supports.