J-Walk & Associates, Inc.

New Shortcut Key Discovered

Pointy Haired Dilbert compiled a comprehensive list of Excel keyboard shortcuts.

And that reminded me of a new shortcut I discovered last week:

• Ctrl+D makes a copy of an embedded chart (Excel 2007 and Excel 2010 only).

To help you remember, think "D for Duplicate." I couldn't find it in the Help system, and a cursory check of the Web leads me to suspect that I'm the first person in the world to discover this.

Before Excel 2007, the easiest way to copy a chart is to press Ctrl while you drag the chart with your mouse. That action was removed in Excel 2007, but Microsoft provided an even easier method -- and didn't even tell anyone about it!

- Reader Comments -

Following are comments in response to this item.
The most recent comment is at the bottom.

1. By SB. Comment posted 22 February, 2010 10:33am

   first person in the world "outside the microsoft dev team" maybe? It is entirely possible that they themselves don't know about it
   Useful shortcut!
2. By Bill. Comment posted 22 February, 2010 11:21am

   Sorry to hear this. I use that shortcut to quickly duplicate the contents of a cell to the cell below w/o having to copy it.
   
   We are due to upgrade to 2007 at work (yes, 2010 is on the horizon and we're just getting around to 2007) So thanks for the information.
3. By John Walkenbach. Comment posted 22 February, 2010 11:43am

   Ctrl+D still works for copying cells, Bill. But if a chart is selected, then Ctrl+D copies the chart.
4. By Hui.... Comment posted 23 February, 2010 3:06am

   Bill, I'd skip 2007 and go straight to 2010
5. By Jon Peltier. Comment posted 23 February, 2010 10:38am

   Nothing new under the sun:
   
   Select a chart in Classic Excel using Ctrl+Click or Shift+Click, so the chart object is selected, then press Ctrl+D: Duplicate Chart!
   
   Oh, and Ctrl+Drag copies a chart for me in 2007.
6. By John Waldner. Comment posted 10 March, 2010 4:38pm

   Ctrl+D is the duplicate shortcut for every drawing object in Word and PowerPoint as well...I use it all the time in creating diagrams.