In Excel: press Ctrl+5 on Windows (⌘+Shift+X on Mac) to strike through excel instantly — no mouse or menu required.
Keyboard shortcut: Strike Through Excel
| Platform | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Windows | Ctrl+5 |
| Mac | ⌘+Shift+X |
Click the target cell, row header, or column header so Excel knows what to act on.
Hold the modifier key(s) in Ctrl+5 (Windows) or ⌘+Shift+X (Mac) simultaneously, then tap the final key.
Excel executes the Strike Through Excel operation instantly.
Undo with Ctrl+Z (⌘+Z on Mac) if the result is not what you expected.
What this does
Pressing Ctrl+5 on Windows — or ⌘+Shift+X on a Mac — triggers the Strike Through Excel action instantly. The shortcut bypasses the right-click context menu and the ribbon, so you can strike through excel mid-keystroke without breaking your editing rhythm. Excel's shortcut model is consistent: once you learn Ctrl+5 for Strike Through Excel you can apply the same muscle-memory pattern across dozens of related operations, making the whole workflow noticeably faster. The same idea underpins a lot of everyday Excel work, so the few minutes spent getting it right here pay back across every sheet you build afterwards. Treat it as a pattern, not a one-off, and it stops being something you look up and starts being something you reach for. The difference between a quick fix and a sheet you can trust is the extra minute you spend validating “strike through excel shortcut”. Start on a copy or a tiny sample, keep the affected cells visible, and compare the result with the tool above before you touch the real workbook. When this is a ribbon command, the selection matters more than the button: confirm the range, apply the command, then spot-check the output before saving. The point is a workflow that saves repeating the same clicks every week, but the practical win is that someone else can open the file and understand what happened without asking you.
A worked example
Practical use: you are cleaning a dataset and need to strike through excel multiple times. Select your target, hit Ctrl+5 on Windows (⌘+Shift+X on Mac) for the first Strike Through Excel action, then press F4 to repeat the last action at each subsequent selection — this chains the Ctrl+5 shortcut into a rapid-fire workflow that beats any menu approach. Use the Strike Through Excel shortcut whenever you would otherwise right-click and choose an option from the context menu or navigate the ribbon. In high-volume data work the Ctrl+5 keystroke saves 2–4 seconds per action; across a hundred repetitions that is several minutes back in your session. A practical tip before you scale it up: build it once on a small block of test data, confirm the number against the tool on this page, and only then point it at your real sheet. That one habit catches almost every mistake while it is still cheap to fix, long before a wrong figure reaches a report or a colleague.
In Google Sheets
Everything above works in Google Sheets too. Excel and Sheets share the formula syntax used here; only the surrounding menus are arranged differently. That portability is deliberate — learn it once and it follows you between the two tools and across Windows and Mac. Nothing on this page is behind a login: the tool runs entirely in your browser, the formula is shown in full with one-click copy, and the steps work the same on Windows and Mac. That is the whole promise here — the exact answer, a way to prove it on your own numbers, and just enough context to make it stick. The short version of “strike through excel shortcut”: the answer is at the top of this page, the tool proves it on your own numbers, and the sections above explain why it holds so the next variation does not stump you. Excel rewards people who reference cells instead of typing values and who keep inputs separate from formulas, because that is what makes a result you can audit months later. Build it once, deliberately, with the live tool as a check, and you convert a one-off lookup into a reusable skill — which is the whole point of learning the why and not just the what.
Common mistakes
- Using Ctrl instead of the correct modifier or vice versa — always double-check whether Ctrl+5 starts with Ctrl, Alt, or Shift.
- Activating a cell for editing (cursor visible inside the cell) before pressing the shortcut — many shortcuts only fire when a cell is selected, not in edit mode. Press Escape to exit edit mode first.
- Expecting the shortcut to work the same in Google Sheets: most Strike Through Excel shortcuts are Excel-specific; Sheets uses different key combos for the same operations.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a Mac shortcut for Strike Through Excel?
Yes — on Mac use ⌘+Shift+X. The function is identical to pressing Ctrl+5 on Windows; only the modifier keys differ because Mac replaces Ctrl with ⌘ and sometimes Alt with Option (⌥).
What if the Strike Through Excel shortcut (Ctrl+5) doesn't work?
Check that you are not in cell-edit mode (press Escape first), that no dialog is open, and that no add-in has reassigned the shortcut. On a laptop, some function keys require pressing Fn first.
Can I use the Strike Through Excel shortcut multiple times in a row?
Yes — press Ctrl+5 repeatedly for each Strike Through Excel action, or pre-select multiple rows/columns and press the shortcut once to apply it to all of them simultaneously. You can also press F4 after the first use to repeat the last action.