Excel 2010 Tips and Tricks

Tip 6: Undoing, Redoing, and Repeating
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Redoing
The Redo button (located to the right of the Undo button on the Quick Access toolbar) essentially
undoes the Undo command. If you undo too much, you can click the Redo button (or press
Ctrl+Y or F4) to repeat commands that have been undone.
Repeating
You can repeat many Excel operations by pressing Ctrl+Y or F4. This command simply repeats
the last action — unless the last operation was an Undo operation. In this case, the Undo is
undone (as described in the previous section).
Repeating a command can be a great timesaver. Here’s an example of how useful the Repeat
command can be. You may apply lots of formatting (for example, font size, bold formatting,
background color, and borders) to a cell by using the Format Cells dialog box. After you close the
dialog box, it’s a snap to apply that same formatting to other cells or ranges by pressing Ctrl+Y.
Or, you may need to insert blank rows at certain locations in your worksheet. Issue the Home➜
Cells➜Insert➜Insert Sheet Rows command one time. Then move the cell pointer to the next row
to be inserted and press Ctrl+Y to repeat the row insertion command.
Excel also has a Repeat button, but it’s not normally available. You can, however, add this button
to your Quick Access toolbar:
1. Right-click the Quick Access toolbar and choose Customize Quick Access Toolbar to display
the Quick Access Toolbar tab of the Excel Options dialog box.
2. In the Excel Options dialog box, select Popular Commands from the drop-down list on
the left.
3. In the list of commands, select Repeat.
4. Click Add to add the selected command to the Quick Access toolbar.
5. Click OK to close the Excel Options dialog box.
Why add the Repeat button to your Quick Access toolbar, when pressing Ctrl+Y is so easy? One
reason is that you can hover your mouse pointer over the button and Excel displays a description
of what will be repeated (see Figure 6-2). Another reason is that the Repeat button is disabled if
you can’t repeat the most recent command — a visual cue that may prevent you from trying to
repeat something that can’t be repeated.