Shortcuts for Date/Time in Microsoft® Access and Excel
Last updated on 2024-05-01.
Built-in Keyboard Shortcuts
These keyboard shorcuts will work in cells in Excel worsheets and in text boxes in Access forms:
Ctrl+ inputs today's date.
Shift+Ctrl+; inputs the current time.
Ctrl+; space Shift+Ctrl+; inputs today's date and current time.
I know these shortcuts work for US and UK keyboards on a PC. But I understand people using German and Italian keyboards can experience problems. So, if you're not on a US/UK keyboard perhaps run a test and consult the web if results are not as intended.
Customised Date/Time Shortcut
Users I've spoken to say they find the Ctrl+; space Shift+Ctrl+; shortcut cumbersome to use. Frequently getting it wrong and spending time trying to put things right, they tend to avoid it.
So, what I've done is to create a simple macro that when run inputs the current date and time. This is the macro for Excel:
Sub sSetDateTime()
On Error Resume Next
ActiveCell = Now
End Sub
To run the macro I usually assign the keyboard shortcut Shift+Ctrl+T:
Using the assignment Shift+Ctrl+T in Excel avoids a clash with Ctrl+t, which is Excel's default shortcut for inserting a table.
This is the macro for Access:
Sub sSetDateTime()
On Error Resume Next
Screen.ActiveControl = Now()
End Sub
On assigning this macro to Ctrl+t won't interfere with any default Access shortcuts as far as I'm aware.
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