Mixed anchors run the grid — row-lock the header, column-lock the driver; one formula fills every cell.
The valuation committee sits at four and the VP wants the terminal value stress-tested before the book goes out. Run it as a two-way sensitivity — one number will not survive that room. The forecast is done — FY-final unlevered free cash flow is on the page, already grown a year — so the terminal value is that cash flow over WACC less the terminal growth rate. Build the grid: five discount rates across, three growth rates down, fifteen cells, and one formula does all of them if its three references are pinned the right way round. Bring the figures to house standard, then mark the case the committee is actually being shown. The page lands somewhere new every run.
Alt walks: tap Alt, release, then the letters in sequence — each key steps one ribbon menu. On a Mac, tap ⌥ and use the same letters (KeyTips, Excel 2024+).
Shift+→⇧→ on macExtend selection one cell
Nudge a selection one cell at a time when the block you need doesn’t end at a data edge.
Shift+↓⇧↓ on macExtend selection one cell
Ctrl+D⌘D on macFill down from the cell above
Build the logic once in the top cell, select down, and stamp it — the standard way to fill a schedule.
Ctrl+R⌘R on macFill right from the cell to the left
Same as fill down, but across — one quarter’s formula becomes the whole year in two keystrokes.
Ctrl+1⌘1 on macOpen the Format Cells dialog
The master formatting dialog — number formats, alignment, borders in one place when a ribbon walk would take longer.
Alt h b s⌥ h b s on macOutside borders
OUTSIDE border (S for outSide) — ONE frame around the selection’s perimeter, interior clean. The finished-table look; A is the grid of lines, S is the frame.
the par-setting sequence, straight through:
D13 =$C$7/(D$12-$C13) — F4 cycles each reference to the lock it needs · select D13:H15 ctrl+d then ctrl+r · ctrl+1 n · D15 alt h b s · ctrl+s