Excel VBA Programming For Dummies
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You can get things done faster and be more productive if you know the keyboard shortcuts for your work environment. This cheat sheet provides a list of useful keyboard shortcuts for Excel VBA programmers. If you're new to VBA, try learning just a few of them at a time until they're part of your work habits.

Standard Visual Basic Editor shortcut keys

As you work with the Visual Basic Editor, you might want to navigate the windows using keyboard shortcuts instead reaching for the mouse. These shortcuts allow you to navigate the Visual Basic Editor interface.

What to Press What It Does
Alt+F11 Toggles between the VBE and Excel windows.
Shift+F10 Displays the active window’s shortcut menu (replicates right-clicking). In some Windows configurations, it’s Ctrl+Shift+F10.
Ctrl+R Opens the Project Explorer.
Ctrl+G Opens the Immediate window.
F4 Opens the Properties window.
F2 Opens Object Browser.
F1 Opens VBA Help.
F7 Activates the open module window.

Shortcut keys for working in the Visual Basic Editor code window

At some point, you might find yourself working with many macros at one time. It can be tedious trying to navigate between and within macro procedures by clicking around with the mouse. These keyboard shortcuts allow you to quickly jump to a target procedure, navigate modules, and even find the starting point for variables.

What to Press What It Does
Ctrl+down arrow Moves below the first line of the next procedure.
Ctrl+up arrow Moves below the first line of previous procedure.
Ctrl+Page Down Moves to the first line of the next procedure.
Ctrl+Page Up Moves to the first line of the previous procedure.
Shift+F2 Moves to the selected function or variable.
Ctrl+Shift+F2 Moves to the last position.
Ctrl+Home Moves to the beginning of a module.
Ctrl+End Moves to the end of a module.
Ctrl+right arrow Moves one word to the right.
Ctrl+left arrow Moves one word to the left.
End Moves to the end of the line.
Home Moves to the beginning of the line.
Tab Indents the current line.
Shift+Tab Removes the indent for the current line.
Ctrl+J Lists the properties and methods for the selected object.

Shortcut keys for debugging code in the Visual Basic Editor

Debugging your code is an important part of working with Excel Macros. Although there are ways to use the debugging features through the Visual Basic Editor menu options, you might find these keyboard shortcuts to be a much more efficient way to debug your code.

What to Press What It Does
F5 Runs the current procedure or continues after pausing.
Ctrl+Break Halts the currently running procedure.
F8 Goes into debug mode and executes one line at a time.
Ctrl+F8 Executes code up until the cursor.
Shift+F8 Steps over the current line while in debug mode.
F9 Toggles a breakpoint for the currently selected line.
Ctrl+Shift+F9 Clears all breakpoints.
Alt+D+L Compiles the current Visual Basic project.

Shortcut keys for navigating the Visual Basic Editor project window

Want to navigate your Visual Basic projects without reaching for the mouse? Try using these keyboard shortcuts to move between projects and modules:

What to Press What It Does
Up arrow Moves up the project list one item at a time.
Down arrow Moves down the project list one item at a time.
Home Moves to the first project in the project list.
End Moves to the last visible item in the project list.
Right arrow Expands the selected folder.
Left arrow Collapses the selected folder.
F7 Opens the code pane for the selected file.

About This Article

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Dick Kusleika has been helping users get the most out of Microsoft Office products for more than 25 years through online forums, blogging, books, and conferences.

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