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Edit cells & formulas faster [shortcut]

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shortcuts-for-editing-quicklyLet’s keep this simple & short.

Whenever you are editing cells or formulas, the usual sequence is like this:

  1. Double click on the cell you want to edit
  2. For existing cells: Go to the left most / right most part and start typing
  3. For blank cells: start typing right away

Here is a faster sequence:

  1. Navigate to the cell you want to edit using arrow keys (hold CTRL key to jump all the way to left / right / up / down)
  2. For existing cells:
    1. Once you are on the cell, press F2.
    2. This places cursor right at the end of cell contents or formula.
    3. To edit the cell from beginning, press HOME key on your keyboard.
  3. For blank cells: start typing right away

While this might seem like few more steps than mouse approach, it is significantly faster (as you don’t have to juggle hands between keyboard and mouse).

Hope this makes a teeny tiny bit more awesome.

More keyboard shortcuts for Excel:

 

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7 Responses to “Edit cells & formulas faster [shortcut]”

  1. MF says:

    If the cell content is an URL, and you want to add the hyperlink to it, F2 then Enter would do the job. 🙂

  2. Sue says:

    Hi ALL,

    When I try this in Excel 2010, F2 behaves as stated, but 'Home' just brings me to the leftmost cell in that row, rather that the beginning of the cell content. Is this a setting somewhere?

    • Josh Baker says:

      Sue, make sure you hit F2 to edit the cell contents before hitting Home.

      • Sue says:

        Ah, I see thanks.. But methinks it's still simple to handle all this with the mouse.. one click to the cell, one click to left or right, and start typing!

        • Luke M says:

          Simple, but there's still the time loss of having to move your hand from the mouse to the keyboard (assuming you're not typing with one hand). 🙂

          If you learn keyboard shortcuts and can make it so you never have to touch the mouse, you'll be amazed at how quickly you can start editing a workbook/worksheet.

  3. Phil says:

    once you hit F2 to edit cell contents you can also use the Ctrl+left or right arrow to jump from beginning to end.

  4. Hui... says:

    Whilst in Edit Mode, the most savings come from using
    Ctrl+Shift+Arrow Keys
    This allows you to quickly select the highlighted sections and with use of Ctrl+C Copy and Ctrl+V Paste amazing things can be achieved

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