Insert Cell in Excel (Shortcut)

It’s common for Excel users to have a need to insert a cell or multiple cells in their data set.

While it’s already very easy to insert a cell in Excel if you know the keyboard shortcut to do this, it’ll make you a lot faster in your day-to-day work.

In this tutorial, I will give you the shortcut to inserting cells in Excel.

Shortcut to Insert Cell in Excel

Below is the shortcut to insert a cell in Excel:

Control + Shift + Plus

How to Use the Keyboard Shortcut to Insert Cell

Below are the steps to use the above keyboard shortcut to insert cells in Excel:

  1. Select a cell or range of sales where you want to insert new cells
  2. Use the shortcut Control + Shift + Plus (hold the Control and the Shift key and press the plus key).
  3. In the insert dialog box that opens up, select one of the two options
    • Shift Cells Right
    • Shift Cells Down
insert cells dialog box
  1. Click OK

When you use the ‘Shift Cells Right’ option, new cells will be added to the cells you selected, and the cells that were already there will be shifted to the right.

When you use the ‘Shift Cells Down’ option, new cells will be added to the cells you selected, and the cells that were already there will be shifted down.

Pro Tip: Once the Insert dialog box is open, you can use the arrow keys to select the different options and press the Enter key after selecting the option you want.

Important Things to Know About Inserting Cells in Excel

  • The number of new cells that are inserted would depend on the cells that you initially selected before using the above shortcut. For example, if you selected one cell, then only one cell would be inserted, and if you selected three cells, then three cells would be inserted.
  • You can select one single cell, a range of cells, or even non-adjacent cells and use the above shortcut to insert new cells

Alternate Ways to Insert Cell in Excel

You can also open the Insert dialog box by selecting the cells and then right-clicking, and then clicking on the Insert option

Click the insert option

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I am a huge fan of Microsoft Excel and love sharing my knowledge through articles and tutorials. I work as a business analyst and use Microsoft Excel extensively in my daily tasks. My aim is to help you unleash the full potential of Excel and become a data-slaying wizard yourself.

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