How to move cells in Excel with Arrow keys

• Release Feb 1, 2022Update Aug 24, 2022
• Written in Excel for Microsoft 365 version 2202

Learn how to use the arrow keys to move cells in Excel. When you want to select a distant cell for data entry, etc., it is inefficient to activate the cell with the mouse every time you want to select it. You can work even more smoothly if you can use the arrow keys efficiently and move cells only with the keyboard. We will show you how to use the arrow keys to select a cell at the edge in data and how to select a cell at the edge of a sheet.

Shortcut key to move with arrow keys

Move to other cells

Windows
↑ (Up Arrow key) or ↓ (Down Arrow key) or → (Right Arrow key) or ← (Left Arrow key)

Mac
↑ (Up Arrow key) or ↓ (Down Arrow key) or → (Right Arrow key) or ← (Left Arrow key)

Move to the cell on the edge of the data

Windows
Ctrl + ↑ (Up Arrow key) or ↓ (Down Arrow key) or → (Right Arrow key) or ← (Left Arrow key)

Mac
command + ↑ (Up Arrow key) or ↓ (Down Arrow key) or → (Right Arrow key) or ← (Left Arrow key)

Move to the cell on the edge of the sheet

Windows
Ctrl + ↑ (Up Arrow key) or ↓ (Down Arrow key) or → (Right Arrow key) or ← (Left Arrow key)

Mac
command + ↑ (Up Arrow key) or ↓ (Down Arrow key) or → (Right Arrow key) or ← (Left Arrow key)

Move to other cells

Use the arrow keys to move to other cells.

Total Time: 1 minute

Select a cell

From A1 selected, use the arrow keys to move to other cells.

Move to the cell below

Press ↓ (Down Arrow key) once to move one cell down.

Move to the right cell

Press → (Right Arrow key) once to move one cell right.

Move to the cell above

Press ↑ (Up Arrow key) once to move one cell above.

Move to the left cell

Press ← (Left Arrow key) once to move one cell left.

Move to the cell on the edge of the data

With A3 selected, use the arrow keys to move to the cell at the end of the cell where the data was entered.

Press Ctrl + ↓ (Down Arrow key) to move to the bottom cell in the current column.

Press Ctrl + → (Right Arrow key) to move to the rightmost cell in the current row.

Press Ctrl + ↑ (Up Arrow key) to move to the first cell in the current column.

Press Ctrl + ← (Left Arrow key) to move to the leftmost cell in the current row.

Move to the cell on the edge of the sheet

With A1 selected, use the arrow keys to move to the cell at the end of the sheet.

Press Ctrl and hold down ↓ (Down Arrow key) to move to the bottom of the sheet.

Press Ctrl and hold down → (Right Arrow key) to move to the right edge of the sheet.

Press Ctrl and hold down ↑ (Up Arrow key) to move to the first row of the sheet.

Press Ctrl and hold down ← (Left Arrow key) to move to the left edge of the sheet.