The keyboard shortcut Ctrl + ; (Control key plus the semicolon key) is the designated command in Microsoft Excel to insert the current system date into the active cell. This action inserts the date as a static value, meaning it will not update automatically like the TODAY() function. This is a fundamental and widely documented data entry shortcut within the application.

B. Ctrl + Shift + ;

This shortcut inserts the current system time, not the date, into the active cell.

C. Shift + ;

This key combination simply types a colon (:) character into the cell.

D. Alt + ;

This shortcut is used to select only the visible cells within a selected range, ignoring any hidden rows or columns.

1. Microsoft Corporation. (n.d.). Keyboard shortcuts in Excel. Microsoft Support. Retrieved from support.microsoft.com. In the section "Ctrl key combination shortcuts

" the documentation explicitly states: "Ctrl+; (semicolon) Enter the current date." and "Ctrl+Shift+; (semicolon) Enter the current time."

2. Indiana University. (2023

October 24). Keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Excel. University Information Technology Services Knowledge Base. Retrieved from kb.iu.edu/d/acik. The "Data entry" section lists: "Ctrl+; Insert the current date."

3. University of Wisconsin-Madison. (2019

July 1). Excel - Keyboard Shortcuts. Division of Information Technology (DoIT). Retrieved from kb.wisc.edu/showcase/page.php?id=93310. The document lists "Ctrl + ;" with the description "Insert current date."