Excel Navigation Shortcuts

Written by

Mel Jenkins

Reviewed by

Laura Tsitlidze

Last updated on January 19, 2024

Shortcuts to Move Around a Worksheet

 

Move One Cell

When you press an arrow key, your pointer moves one cell in the direction of the arrow key that you pressed.

PC Shortcut: or or or
Mac Shortcut:Arrow

move one cell

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

Enter Text and Move Down

When you press the ENTER key, the text you are typing is saved in the cell and the cell directly below it is selected. Use the RETURN key on a Mac.

PC Shortcut:Enter
Mac Shortcut:Return

enter text

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

Enter Text and Move Up

On a PC, when you press SHIFT + ENTER, the text you are typing is saved in the cell and the cell directly above it is selected.

PC Shortcut:Shift+Enter
Mac Shortcut:+Return
On a Mac, is the Shift key.

shift enter

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

Enter Text and Move Right

Pressing the TAB key, moves one cell to the right. It works whether or not you are in Edit mode.

PC Shortcut:Tab
Mac Shortcut:Tab

tab

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

Enter Text and Move Left

When you press SHIFT + TAB, the text you are typing is saved in the cell, and the cell directly to the left is selected. It works whether or not you are in Edit mode.

PC Shortcut:Shift+Tab
Mac Shortcut:+Tab

shift tab

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

On a PC, press ALT + PG DN to move an entire screen to the right, selecting the cell in the same row one screen over. How far it moves the cursor depends on the zoom. On a Mac, press ⌘ + ⌥ + ↓.

PC Shortcut:Alt+PgDn
Mac Shortcut:++
On a Mac, is the Command (Cmd) key, and is Option (Alt).

alt pg down

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

Move One Screen Left

On a PC, press ALT + PG UP to move an entire screen to the left, selecting the cell in the same row one screen back. How far it moves the cursor depends on the zoom. On a Mac, press ⌘ + ⌥ + ↑.

PC Shortcut:Alt+PgUp
Mac Shortcut:++

alt page up

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

Move One Screen Down

On a PC, press PG DN to move an entire screen down, selecting the cell in the same column one screen below. How far it moves the cursor depends on the zoom. On a Mac, press ⌘ + ↓.

PC Shortcut:PgDn
Mac Shortcut:+

page down

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

Move One Screen Up

On a PC, press PG UP to move an entire screen up, selecting the cell in the same column one screen above. How far it moves the cursor depends on the zoom. On a Mac, press ⌘ + ↑.

PC Shortcut:PgUp
Mac Shortcut:+

page up

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

Move to Beginning of Row

On a PC, press HOME to move to the beginning of your current row. On a Mac, press the Function key (fn) and left arrow () simultaneously.

PC Shortcut:Home
Mac Shortcut:fn+

home

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

Move to Edge of Data Region

On a PC, hold the CTRL key down, and then press any arrow key to move to that edge of the current data region. This can be the top (↑), bottom(↓), left(←), or right (→) of the region. The same can be achieved by pressing the END key instead of CTRL. On a Mac, press and an arrow key simultaneously.

PC Shortcut:Ctrl+ (or any other arrow key)
Mac Shortcut:+ Arrow

control arrow keys

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

Move to the End of All Used Cells in a Worksheet

On a PC, press CTRL + END to move to the last row and last column that is used in a worksheet. It does not move you to the very last cell and column in the worksheet itself. On a Mac, press ⌘ + ⌃ + →.

PC Shortcut:Ctrl+End
Mac Shortcut:++

control end

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

Move to the Beginning of a Worksheet

On a PC, press CTRL + HOME to move to the beginning of your worksheet (Cell A1). On a Mac, press ⌘ + ⌃ + ←.

PC Shortcut:Ctrl+Home
Mac Shortcut:++

control home

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

Move to the Next Sheet

On a PC, press CTRL + PG DN to move to the next sheet in your workbook. (If you’re already on the last sheet, the shortcut does nothing.) On a Mac, press ⌘ + ⌃ + ↓.

PC Shortcut:Ctrl+PgDn
Mac Shortcut:++
Google Sheets Shortcut:Alt+
Many PC shortcuts are the same in Excel and Google Sheets, if they work in Google Sheets at all. Note that there is a different Google Sheets shortcut (ALT + ↓) to move to the next sheet.

control page down

 

On a PC, press CTRL + PG UP to move to the previous sheet in your workbook. (If you’re on the first sheet, the shortcut does nothing.) On a Mac, press Command (), Control (), and the Up arrow key simultaneously. If you are using Google Sheets, press ALT + ↑.

PC Shortcut:Ctrl+PgUp
Mac Shortcut:++
Google Sheets Shortcut:Alt+

control page up

 

Move the Screen but Lock the Cell

If you press SCROLL LOCK and then use the arrow keys or PG UP / PG DN, the screen moves, but the selected cell doesn’t change.

PC Shortcut:ScrLk
Some keyboards don’t have a SCROLL LOCK key.

show scroll lock

 

Shortcuts to Select Cells in a Worksheet

 

Select Current Region (Possibly Entire Worksheet)

This shortcut selects all occupied cells adjacent to the selected cell.

PC Shortcut:Ctrl+A
Mac Shortcut:+A
Remember This Shortcut:
A for All

Pressing CTRL + A extends the selection to all of the occupied range around the originally selected cell.

If you press CTRL + A twice, the selection is extended again to the entire worksheet.

control a

Google Sheets uses CTRL + A, too.

 

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Select Cells Adjacent to Active Cell

If you press CTRL + SHIFT and an arrow key, it selects all occupied cells directly adjacent to your current cell in the same direction as the arrow you chose. As soon as a blank cell is detected, the selection will stop.

PC Shortcut:Ctrl+Shift+ (or any other arrow)

control shift arrows

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

Extend Selection by One Cell

Pressing CTRL and an arrow key adds one cell adjacent, in the row or column, to your current selection.

PC Shortcut:Shift+ (or any other arrow)
Mac Shortcut:+A

shift arrow

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

Select Entire Column

Pressing CTRL + SPACE selects the entire column of the current cell.

PC Shortcut:Ctrl+Space
Mac Shortcut:+Space

control space

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

Select Entire Row

Pressing SHIFT + SPACE, selects the entire row of the current cell.

PC Shortcut:Shift+Space
Mac Shortcut:+Space

shift space

Google Sheets uses the same shortcut.

 

If you press CTRL + SHIFT + PG DN, the sheet that is currently selected and the next sheet are both selected, putting Excel into Group mode.

PC Shortcut:Ctrl+Shift+PgDn

control shift page down

 

Select Current and Previous Sheet

If you press CTRL + SHIFT + PG UP, the sheet that is currently selected and the previous sheet are both selected, putting Excel into Group mode.

PC Shortcut:Ctrl+Shift+PgUp

control shift page up

 

Select All Objects

If you have a sheet with multiple objects and one of the objects is selected, then pressing CTRL + SHIFT + SPACE selects the rest of the objects on the sheet.

PC Shortcut:Ctrl+Shift+Space

control shift space

 

Select Region Directly Around Active Cell

This shortcut selects the region directly around the active cell.

PC Shortcut:Ctrl+Shift+*
Mac Shortcut:++Space
Tip: Don’t use the * key on the numeric keypad. It doesn’t work for this shortcut.
  1. Select a cell within a populated range.

shortcuts format select cell

  1. Press CTRL + SHIFT + * (asterisk) to select the entire region.

shortcuts format select region

Note: In many cases, this has the same effect as CTRL + A.

 

Toggle Add to Selection Mode

This shortcut toggles Add to Selection mode on or off.

PC Shortcut:Shift+F8
Mac Shortcut:fn++F8

Use the “Add to Selection” mode to select another range cells without deselecting the currently highlighted cells.

  1. Select the first range of cells.

shortcuts format select

  1. Press SHIFT + F8

shortcuts format add to selection

  1. Select another range of cells. Repeat as necessary.

shortcuts format select again

  1. Edit (most likely, change the formatting of) all selected cells at once.

shortcuts format select formatted

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