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Claudio Cantatore's avatar
Claudio Cantatore
Copper Contributor
Apr 27, 2017

Shortcuts to insert current date and time ( CTRL + ; ) don't work in EXCEL 2013

Recently upgraded to Excel 2013   One of the most used (at least for me) shorcuts:   1)  CTRL + ;    to insert current date in a cell 2)  CTRL + :    to insert current time in a cell   both do...
excel
SergeiBaklan's avatar
SergeiBaklan
Diamond Contributor
Apr 27, 2017

Hi Jens,

 

Yes, these shortcuts are almost from VisiCalc time and shall work on all available versions of Excel, at least for standard US layout.

 

Anyway, here are links on shortcuts

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Excel-keyboard-shortcuts-and-function-keys-for-Windows-1798d9d5-842a-42b8-9c99-9b7213f0040f#ID0EABDAAA=2013

 

If to check another language just select it from very bottom of the page, e.g. German

https://support.office.com/de-de/article/Excel-Tastenkombinationen-und-Funktionstasten-f%c3%bcr-Windows-1798d9d5-842a-42b8-9c99-9b7213f0040f?omkt=de-DE&ui=de-DE&rs=de-DE&ad=DE

 

From second one strange thing, for versions 2007, 2010

STRG+;
Gibt das aktuelle Datum ein.

for 2013

STRG+.
Gibt das aktuelle Datum ein.

for 2016 it is back

Eingeben des aktuellen Datums 
STRG+SEMIKOLON (;)

If i understood German correctly, know only few words on it. 

 

Jens Stolle's avatar
Jens Stolle
Copper Contributor
Apr 28, 2017
Great links. And strangely the documentation seems to be false. It is CTRL+. (= STRG+.) in all versions in german. I teach Excel and in all versions it has been CTRL+. I also just tested CTRL+; in 2016 and that doesnt work in the german Version.

So still no idea what the correct Shortcut is in the language Version Raffaele uses (sounds italian to me?).
  • Claudio Cantatore's avatar
    Claudio Cantatore
    Copper Contributor
    Apr 28, 2017

    Sorry for not having specified that. I'm Italian, I use a QWERTY Italian keyboard.

    The shortcuts in ITA keyboard have always been CTRL+;/CTRL+:

     

    And also the support.office.com help file in Italian says it :

     

    https://support.office.com/it-it/article/Scelte-rapide-da-tastiera-e-tasti-funzione-di-Excel-per-Windows-1798d9d5-842a-42b8-9c99-9b7213f0040f?omkt=it-IT&ui=it-IT&rs=it-IT&ad=IT#ID0EAAEAAA=2013

     

    • rbianchi's avatar
      rbianchi
      Copper Contributor
      Dec 06, 2018

      It works if you enter in the excel field before pressing CTRL+;

       

      Double click on the field and press CTRL+; and it works.

       

      • SergeiBaklan's avatar
        SergeiBaklan
        Diamond Contributor
        Dec 06, 2018

        Strange, it shall work without entering into cell edit mode

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Apr 28, 2017

    Hi all,

     

    I have Excel 2016 in German and I am using a german keyboard. For inputting the current date in an empty cell, I can use Ctrl+Dot as known from previous versions. So, in this case, it's for now an error in online help article regarding Ctrl+Semicolon.

     

    For Excel 2016, there are some more errors in the Online Help Article for the German shortcuts, such as some Alt shortcuts, for example Alt+M which opens the Tell Me Box instead of the formulas tab. I already reported this to the MS localization team and they are going to check this.

     

    Another problem in the online help article for the shortcuts (at least for German) is, that the shortcuts always refer to an English US keyboard. There is a note about this on the top of the article.

     

    Therefore, the mentionned shortcuts (keystrokes) can lead to confusion and may be appear as incorrect. An example: for applying a date format, the German Online Article mentions that I can use Ctrl+Shift+#. This does not work, I have to use Ctrl+#. This is due to that # is on a german keyboard reachable without pressing the shift key. But from an en_US keyboard layouts' perspective, Ctrl+Shift+# is correct.

     

     

    So, sometimes, it can be useful to try a mentionned shortcut from the online help in both combinations (Shifted/Unshifted) depending from the keyboard layout.

     

    Best,

    Mourad

     

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