In a worksheet, you enter data in an active cell. The active cell can be easily identified by the thick black border. There is only one active cell in a worksheet even if you select multiple cells, meaning you enter data in one cell at a time. You can change the active cell with your mouse by clicking on a cell or using keyboard.
The following are the options for changing the active cell using keyboard and are listed below:
a. Press the
UP ARROW key to move the cell cursor moves up and makes that cell as the active cell. Press
DOWN ARROW key or
RIGHT ARROW key or
LEFT ARROW key to move the cell cursor down, right or left and make that cell as the active cell.
b. Press the
TAB key to move the cell cursor to the right and make that cell as the active cell. Pressing
SHIFT +
TAB keys will move the cursor to the left.
c. Press the
ENTER key to move the active cell down. You can change an Excel option and make the active cell to move to the left or right or up when you press the
ENTER key.
d. When you press the
HOME key, the active cell moves to the first cell in that row.
e. When you press the
PAGE UP or
PAGE DOWN keys, the active cell moves one page up or one page down.
f. When you press
ALT +
PAGE UP or
ALT +
PAGE DOWN keys, the active cell moves one screen to the right or left.
g. Pressing
CTRL +
END will make the active cell to be placed at the last cell in the worksheet. Pressing
CTRL +
HOME will make the active cell to be placed at the first cell in the worksheet.