Blog · 2026-10-16

Borders, Freeze Panes and Filters: Excel Formatting Shortcuts in Google Sheets

The everyday Excel formatting keys, and what each one does in Sheets.

The shortcuts

Action	Excel keys	In Google Sheets with SheetSpeed (free Core)
Borders	Alt, H, B + letter	Opens the native borders palette
Freeze panes	Alt, W, F, F	Freezes rows above and columns left of the selection (Pro, launching soon; not in free Core)
Toggle filter	Ctrl+Shift+L	Creates or removes a filter
Insert rows	Ctrl+Shift+=	Native Insert → Rows
Delete rows	Ctrl+Shift+-	Native Edit → Delete → Rows

How they work

SheetSpeed doesn't edit your spreadsheet directly for these. It triggers Sheets' own commands, so the result is the same as using the menu. Undo (Ctrl+Z) works normally.

Without an extension

Borders: the toolbar borders button, or Alt+/ then "border".
Freeze: View → Freeze.
Filter: Data → Create a filter.
Insert rows: right-click → Insert row above.

Remapping

Every SheetSpeed binding can be changed in Settings, which is handy if your team standardizes on different keys.

More: full shortcut list

SheetSpeed is a free Chrome extension for Excel-style shortcuts and trace precedents in Google Sheets. We make it, so weigh our take accordingly.

Add SheetSpeed to Chrome (free)