Edit Cell in Excel (Shortcut)

When you work in Excel, most of the time you’re actually working with the cells in the worksheet.

And when you enter any data or formula in a cell in excel, you need to get into the edit mode so that you can enter the content in the cell.

And similarly, if you want to edit any of the content that has already been entered into the cell, you again need to know how to get into the cell and edit it.

In this tutorial, I will give you the keyboard shortcut to Edit Cell in Excel

Shortcut to Edit Cell in Excel

Below is the keyboard shortcut to Edit Cell in Excel:

Fn + F2

or

F2

How to Use the Keyboard Shortcut to Edit Cell in Excel

Below are the steps to use the above keyboard shortcut:

  1. Select the cell that you want to edit
  2. With the cell selected, hold the Fn key and then press the F2 key on your keyboard. This will get you into the edit mode in the cell and you will see the cursor blinking in the cell (indicating that you can make changes to the cell now).
    • In case you don’t have the Fn key on your keyboard or you have it enabled and locked, you can use the F4 key only to get into the edit mode in the cell.
  3. Once done, press the Enter key

Important Things to Know About Edit Cell in Excel:

  • Excel allows you to edit only one cell at a time. even if you select a range of cells, and then use the above keyboard shortcut, you would only be able to edit the active cell
  • If you want to enter any text or formula in a cell, you don’t necessarily need to get into the edit mode to enter it. You can simply select the cell and start typing and Excel would automatically enter that text in the cell for you. However, if you already have some text in the cell, it is recommended that you first get into the edit mode and then make the changes
  • When you are editing a cell, you would be able to see the Edit mode active in the status bar
Edit Mode in the status bar

Alternate Ways to Edit Cell in Excel in Excel:

  • When you place your cursor over a cell and double-click using your mouse, it would also get you into the edit mode in that cell
  • You can also edit a cell by selecting it and then making the changes in the formula bar.
    • Excel allows editing to happen directly in the cell as well as the formula bar, and it also gives you the option to disallow the editing in the cell itself. To do this, open the excel options dialog box by clicking on the file tab and then clicking on options, and then uncheck the ‘Allow editing directly in the cell’ option in the Advanced tab.
Allow Editing in a Cell directly in Excel

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