Ctrl + T in Excel: Functions and How to Use It

From this tutorial, you will know the function of and how to use Ctrl + T in Excel.

There are many shortcuts that we can use in Excel to make us work faster. One of those shortcuts is Ctrl + T. If we can use this shortcut right, then we should be able to utilize the table feature in Excel much more quicker and simpler.

Want to know more about the Ctrl + T shortcut in Excel and what we have to do to use it properly? Read this tutorial until its last part.

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Functions of Ctrl + T in Excel

We can use Ctrl + T in Excel to show up the “Create Table” dialog box. This dialog box can help us to create an Excel table from our cell range.

Here is, more or less, the interface of the “Create Table” dialog box that will show up when we use the Ctrl + T shortcut in Excel.

How to Use Ctrl + T in Excel

The way to use Ctrl + T in Excel is simple. First, put your cell cursor on one of the cells in your data table that you want to convert into an Excel table.



Then, just press Ctrl and T buttons simultaneously on your keyboard. Excel will immediately show up its “Create Table” dialog box with the cell range address of your data table filling its text box (this is the cell range reference that Excel will convert into an Excel table). If your data table has headers, then the “My table has headers” checkbox in the dialog box should also have been checked.



Change the given details in the dialog box if necessary. If all details already seem correct, click the “OK” button. Your selected cell range should immediately be transformed into an Excel table after that.



An Excel table has advantages compared to a normal data table in Excel. It is much easier to organize and process as a data table because it has many special features provided by Excel for that purpose.

Moreover, it is auto-expandable. This means if you use something like charts, formulas, or pivot tables with an Excel table as a reference and you happen to add some new data rows into the table, Excel will automatically expand the reference to include those new rows as well. That should help you to save time when you process and visualize your data in Excel.

Besides putting your cell cursor on a cell of a data table before you press Ctrl + T, you can also press Ctrl + T anywhere on your worksheet and configure the details of the “Create Table” dialog box after it shows up. However, the first method seems to be simpler and faster for us.

Ctrl + T Alternative in Excel 1: Ctrl + L

Besides Ctrl + T, you can also use Ctrl + L to summon the “Create Table” dialog box in Excel. The result should be the same.

Ctrl + T Alternative in Excel 2: The “Table” Button

Another way to show up the “Create Table” dialog box in Excel is to click the “Table” button in the Excel ribbon. To do that, go to the “Insert” tab on the ribbon and click the “Table” button there.



The result of this method should be the same as Ctrl + T.

Exercise

After you have learned about the Ctrl + T shortcut in Excel, now is the time for you to practice it on an Excel file.

Open an Excel file and create a dummy data table if it doesn’t have one yet. Then, try the Ctrl + T shortcut to create an Excel table from it. Try to use the Ctrl + T alternatives too if you want.

How is it? Can you use the shortcut well?

Additional Notes

• In Mac, the equivalent shortcut of Ctrl + T is Command + T
• Why Ctrl + L do the same thing as Ctrl + T in Excel? That is because, previously, a table (T) in Excel is also called a list (L)

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