Control + F

One of my daily visits brought me to a growing business today. As I waited to work on one of the employee’s computers, I noticed that she spent a good 10-15 seconds scrolling through a medium size spreadsheet looking for a particular entry. I then asked if I could give her a quick tip on how to search through her spreadsheet faster using Ctrl+F on her keyboard. She said, “sure”.

When you push Ctrl+F in a spreadsheet, a “Find” window appears. Type part or all of a word that you are looking for (or numeral) and press Enter and BAM the entry appears instantly. The woman was thrilled and repeated the keyboard shortcut practice multiple times to her pleasure and amazement.

The tip is quick, accurate, and extremely helpful. In fact, Ctrl+F can be used in almost any software package including word processors, email, and the web. Give it a try. I think you will be as excited as the young lady I helped today.

Here is a video tip I did years ago demonstrating this technique using a web browser. Check it ou. Practice it. Share it with your friends, family and colleagues!