Why is F12 for the things that matter?  Because it basically performs one crucial action: SAVE.

• F12 alone – Save as (Alt+F2 does the same)
• Ctrl+F12 – Save as (same as F12 alone)
• Shift+F12 – Save (Ctrl+S does the same and is preferable)
• Ctrl+Shift+F12 – Go to “Print Preview and Print” (Ctrl+P does the same and is preferable)

I believe the above descriptions should be simple and clear enough for even an Excel novice to understand.  Therefore I would rather wrapping up the Function Key series in this post.

Do you think I remember all these combinations I showed in this series??

The answer is absolutely NO. 

And this is the point I want to elaborate a bit. There are so many shortcut combinations in Excel that I doubt if anyone could remember them all.  Indeed, I remember those I used to use only.

Never try to memorize all the shortcuts.  Instead, try to understand your working habits.  What actions you perform on a daily basis, or even on an hourly basis.  Once you identify those actions, find the shortcut for it (although not every action has a shortcut).   Starting in Excel 2010, you will see the tip for a command when you hover your mouse to an icon on the ribbon.  Pay attention!  You will see hints are all around.   For example, Alt+F5 is not documented on support.office.com, but you see it before you click “Refresh” on the ribbon.

This is partially how I could write the whole series of posts for function keys, when some of the combinations are not documented in support.office.com?  Paying attention to hints from Excel itself helped.

But of course, there are more.  Traditional tools are of equal importance.  Below are the references I used for writing this series:

1. Reference book
   1. Microsoft Excel 2010 in Depth, by Bill Jelen
2. Reference sites
   1. Keyboard shortcuts in Excel 2010 – the office page from Office.com
   2. Excel Function Keys and Shortcuts – a comprehensive page for all 12 function keys in one go by Ankit Kaul.  
   3. Google, not to mention 🙂
3. Curiosity
   1. Do experiment on your own.  Do trial and error.  You will be surprised how much you can learn from the process.  At least I do.  🙂

I hope you like the series of posts.  In case you want to review any of them, here’s quick link for you.

F1  F2  F3  F4  F5  F6  F7  F8  F9  F10  F11  F12