Highly doubtful that it exists in Excel but it never hurts to ask. I think the first advanced GUI I saw was either Microsoft Word or Excel.įor many year’s I’ve been hoping to find a particular keyboard shortcut. I just use them to put my computer to sleep, or to change what happens when I start the computer, e.g., to enter the BIOS/UEFI setup, or to temporary change the boot order.īesides WordPerfect, there was a database program called dBase. I suppose this was much better than a GUI if that is what you mainly used, but a GUI is much better for non-experts.
They didn’t have a Windows key back then. Each key could do multiple functions, depending on what key was pressed along with it (e.g., control, fn, shift). I think WordPerfect had a little template that you laid down on top of the Function keys (above your number keys). If I recall correctly, most tasks were done with key combinations. In ancient days, like 30 years ago, I have a recollection the GUI interface was not as developed as today. You ask “Did computer users know and use keyboard shortcuts and other tricks more in the past? ” Here is a combination of shortcuts that will work all the time: use Ctrl-End to jump all the way down, then Home to jump to the first cell of that row, and then Ctrl-Up to the last cell of the table with data. Home - Jumps to the first cell of the active row.End - Jumps to the last cell of the row with data.
Ctrl-Home - Moves the cursor to the first left-most cell of the table.Ĭtrl-Home works all the time whereas Ctrl-End may jump too far down and to the right so that you may readjust the position again after the jump has been made.Ctrl-End - Moves the cursor to the last right-most cell of the table.
It is still faster than using the Down-key or scrolling but not the fastest option. If you have lots of blank cells, you need to activate the shortcut multiple times.