Keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Excel on Mac

MacBook keyboard-Excel keyboard shortcuts

Do you use Microsoft Excel on your Mac instead of or in addition to Apple Numbers? If so, knowing some keyboard shortcuts for Excel on Mac can save you time when performing basic tasks in your spreadsheets and workbooks.

As Microsoft products, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint have some of the same shortcuts. But most below are specific to using Microsoft Excel and will make managing your data a breeze.

Moving around your spreadsheets and workbooks

Moving between cells, sheets, and screens using keyboard shortcuts can get you where you need to be with your data much faster.

  • Move up, down, left, or right one cell: Arrow keys
  • Move between cells (unlocked sheet): Tab key
  • Move to the start of a row: Home or Fn + Left arrow
  • Move to the start of the sheet: Control + Home or Control + Fn + Left arrow
  • Move to the last cell used in a sheet: Control + End or Control + Fn + Right arrow
  • Move up a screen: Page Up or Fn + Up arrow
  • Move down a screen: Page Down or Fn + Down arrow
  • Move a screen to the right: Option + Page Down or Fn + Option + Down arrow
  • Move a screen to the left: Option + Page Up or Fn + Option + Up arrow
  • Move to the next sheet in the workbook: Control + Page Down or Option + Right arrow
  • Move to the previous sheet in the workbook: Control + Page Down or Option + Left arrow
  • Go to the active cell: Control + Delete
  • Show the Go To dialog box: Control + G
  • Show the Find dialog box: Control + F or Shift + F5

Selecting cells

Save yourself and your mouse a little work with these shortcuts for selecting cells, rows, columns, and screens.

  • Select a column: Control + Space bar
  • Select a row: Shift + Space bar
  • Select the sheet: Command + A
  • Select visible cells: Command + Shift + Asterisk (*)
  • Expand the selection by one cell: Shift + Arrow key
  • Expand the selection to the start of the row: Shift + Home or Shift + Fn + Left arrow
  • Expand the selection to the start of the sheet: Control + Shift + Home or Control + Shift + Fn + Left arrow
  • Expand the selection down a screen: Shift + Page Down or Shift + Fn + Down arrow
  • Expand the selection up a screen: Shift + Page Up or Shift + Fn + Up arrow
  • Expand the selection to the last cell used: Control + Shift + End or Control + Shift + Fn + Right arrow

Editing cells

Once you use the above options for selecting cells, use these shortcuts to edit them or their data.

  • Edit the active cell: Control + U
  • Edit the selected cell: F2
  • Copy: Command + C
  • Cut: Command + X
  • Paste: Command + V
  • Paste Special: Command + Option + V
  • Clear: Delete
  • Remove the selection: Control + Hyphen (-)
  • Undo: Command + Z
  • Redo: Command + Y
  • Hide a column: Command + Right parenthesis or Control + Right parenthesis
  • Hide a row: Command + Left parenthesis or Control + Left parenthesis
  • Unhide a column: Command + Shift + Right parenthesis or Control + Shift + Right parenthesis
  • Unhide a row: Command + Shift + Left parenthesis or Control + Shift + Left parenthesis
  • Group selected cells: Command + Shift + K
  • Ungroup selected cells: Command + Shift + J
  • Fill down: Command + D
  • Fill right: Command + R

Formatting data

Like in a word processing app like Microsoft Word, you can format data in your Excel workbook cells and these shortcuts make it simple.

  • Add or remove bold: Command + B
  • Add or remove italics: Command + I (capital letter “i”)
  • Add or remove underline: Command + U
  • Add or remove strikethrough: Command + Shift + X
  • Apply number formatting: Control + Shift + Tilde (~)
  • Apply currency formatting: Control + Shift + Dollar sign ($)
  • Apply percentage formatting: Control + Shift + Percent sign (%)
  • Apply exponential number formatting: Control + Shift + Caret (^)
  • Apply date formatting (day, month, year): Control + Number sign (#)
  • Apply time formatting (hour and minute with AM or PM): Control + Shift + At symbol (@)
  • Insert a hyperlink: Command + K or Control + K
  • Insert a line break within a cell: Command + Option + Return or Control + Option + Return
  • Insert special characters: Control + Command + Space bar
  • Increase the font size: Command + Shift + Right angle bracket (>)
  • Decrease the font size: Command + Shift + Left angle bracket (<)
  • Align center: Command + E
  • Align left: Command + L
  • Show the Format Cells dialog box: Command + 1
  • Show the Modify Cell Style dialog box: Command + Shift + L
  • Add a border to selected cells: Command + Option + 0 (zero)
  • Remove outline borders: Command + Option + Hyphen (-)

Working with formulas

If you work with formulas in Excel on Mac often, these shortcuts can help you do things faster.

  • Expand or collapse the Formula Bar: Control + Shift + U
  • Display the Formula Builder: Shift + F3
  • Display the Formula Builder (after adding a function name): Control + A
  • Start a formula: Equal sign (=)
  • Enter a formula as an array formula: Command + Shift + Return or Control + Shift + Return
  • Calculate the active sheet: Shift + F9
  • Insert the AutoSum formula: Command + Shift + T
  • Insert the current date: Control + Semicolon (;)
  • Insert the current time: Command + Semicolon (;)
  • Cancel an entry in a cell or the Formula Bar: Escape key

Wrapping it up

While this big list of keyboard shortcuts for Excel gives you lot to work with, it’s not the end. There are plenty of other shortcuts you can use when working with spreadsheets and workbooks. Pop open the Help menu in Excel and search for “keyboard shortcuts”.

Also, take a look at these keyboard shortcuts for Numbers on Mac or our complete list of shortcuts for other Mac apps.