Undo, redo, or redo an action in Microsoft Excel

Excel allows you to undo, redo, and repeat specific actions. The buttons to undo, redo, and redo are in similar locations on both Mac and Windows, and the keyboard shortcuts are only slightly different.

Undo an action

Undoing an action simply deletes the previous entry. You can undo up to 100 actions. To undo an action from the keyboard shortcut, press “Ctrl+Z” on Windows or “Command+Z” on Mac.

If you’re using Excel for Windows, you’ll find the Undo button in the Undo group of the Home tab in the upper-left corner of the window. The Undo icon is a curved arrow pointing to the left.

Excel for Windows

On Mac, the Undo button can also be found in the top-left corner of the screen, above the menu bar.

Excel for Mac.

Redo an action

If you undo an action but decided you shouldn’t have done it, you can get it back with the redo function. To redo an action with a keyboard shortcut, press “Ctrl+Y” on Windows or “Command+Y” on Mac. Alternatively, in Windows, you can press the “F4” key to redo an action. If pressing the F4 key alone doesn’t work, you may need to press it along with the “fn” key.

In Excel for Windows, the Redo button is located in the Undo group of the Home tab in the upper-left corner of the window, directly below the Undo button. The Redo icon is a curved arrow pointing to the right.

Excel for Windows

On Mac, you’ll find the Redo button above the menu bar, to the right of the Undo button. By default, this button is the “Repeat” button until you undo an action. After you undo an action, the Redo button changes to the Redo button.

Excel for Mac

The Redo and Redo buttons will never be available at the same time.

Repeat an action

Repeating an action, as the name implies, repeats the previously entered action. The shortcut for repeating an action is the same as performing an action again (“Ctrl+Y” on Windows and “Command+Y” on Mac), causing a bit of confusion. To make things even more confusing, you can only repeat simple actions, such as a copy and paste action. In most cases, you just want to use the copy and paste function instead of the repeat action function.

RELATED: How to Copy and Paste on Mac

To repeat an action with the button in Windows, you must first add it to your Quick Access Toolbar. To do this, type “Repeat” in the search bar at the top of the screen, right-click on “Repeat” in the search results, and then select “Add to Quick Access Toolbar”. (The option is grayed out if it’s already in your Quick Access Toolbar.)

Excel for Windows

Now you can find the Repeat option in the Quick Access Toolbar. After you enter a repeatable action, you can click the Repeat button to repeat it.

Excel for Windows

On Mac, the Redo button is above the menu bar, to the right of the Undo button. This button is Redo by default, but will be the Redo button if you recently undone an action.

As mentioned before, the repeat and redo buttons will never appear at the same time.

This is just one of the many basic functions available to you in Microsoft Excel – all of which can be done using a keyboard shortcut. The more keyboard shortcuts you learn in Excel, the more efficient you will become!

RELATED: The Best Microsoft Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

This post Undo, redo, or redo an action in Microsoft Excel

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