How to move cells in Excel with Arrow keys
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.