If you're used to working with Excel on Windows, one of the most confusing aspects of using Excel on a Mac is shortcuts. Even basic shortcuts you've been using for years in Windows may not work as you expect.

Replace Shortcut For Mac Excel

Click Replace All or Replace. Choose Replace All to make the replacements automatically across the document, or Replace to make only the first replacement. If you choose Replace, you’ll have to click Find Next to see the next match, and then click Replace. ⌥⌘F Replace ⌘G / ⇧⌘G Find next/previous ⌥Enter Select all occurrences of Find match ⌘D ⌘K ⌘D Move last selection to next Find match. Other operating systems’ keyboard shortcuts and additional unassigned shortcuts available at aka.ms/vscodekeybindings Keyboard shortcuts for macOS.

After a few problems, you might wind up thinking that Mac shortcuts are 'totally different' or somehow 'broken'. In reality, Excel shortcuts on the Mac are quite capable, you just have to understand and adjust to certain differences.

In this article, I'll walk you through the key differences you need to be aware of to work productively with Excel shortcuts on a Mac.

Also see: Excel shortcuts on the Mac // 3 minute video

1. Special symbols

One of more confusing aspects of keyboard shortcuts on the Mac are the symbols you'll see for certain keys. For example, the Command key is abbreviated as ⌘, the Control key with ⌃, and the option key as ⌥. These symbols have a long history on the Mac, and you'll find them in menus everywhere.


The Mac Finder – abbreviations appear in all applications, not just Excel

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You'll see these symbols in menus across all applications, so they're not specific to Excel. There really aren't too many symbols, so I recommend that you bite the bullet and memorize them. The table below shows some example shortcuts with a translation.

CommandShortcutTranslation
New workbook⌘NCommand N
Save As⌘⇧SCommand Shift S
Toggle ribbon⌘⌥RCommand Option R
Paste Special⌃⌘VControl Command V
Select row⇧SpaceShift Space

2. Function keys

Like their counterparts in the Windows world, Mac keyboards have function keys. These keys sit at the top of the keyboard and are labeled F1 to F12 on standard keyboards and F13, F14 and higher on extended keyboards.


Standard Mac keyboard with 12 function keys

As you know, function keys are uses for many shortcuts in Excel. For example, you can use F1 for help, F7 for spelling, and shift + F3 to insert a function. But if you try these shortcuts directly on a Mac, they don't work. Why?

By default, Function keys on a Mac control the computer itself, things like screen brightness, volume, video pause and play, and so on. This means that if press only the function keys in Excel, you'll end up controlling the Mac, and not Excel.

To make function keys work like you expect in Excel, you need to add a key: the function or fn key. You'll find the fn key in the lower left on your keyboard. Here are a few examples:

CommandWindowsMac
New chartF11fn F11
Calculate worksheetsF9fn F9
Open SpellingF7fn F7
Evaluate formulaF9fn F9

If you really hate using the fn key, you can change this behavior by changing a preference at System Preferences > Keyboard. Here you can check a box that will that will change function key behavior to work like 'standard function keys'.

If you do this, however, note that you won't be able to use function keys for things like Brightness, Volume, etc. unless you hold down the fn key. In essence, this setting reverses behavior so that you need to use fn to control the Mac.

Personally, I like using the function keys to control the computer, so I leave this setting alone, and just the fn key when needed in Excel.

3. Missing keys

Another difference that may trip you up on a Mac is certain keys are missing.

Unless you're using an extended keyboard, keys like Home, End, backspace, Page up, and Page down are nowhere to be found. This is a problem, because many of these keys are used in Excel shortcuts. The solution is to use specific substitutions, as shown in the table below.

WindowsMac equivalent
Homefn arrow left
Endfn arrow right
Page Upfn arrow up
Page Downfn arrow down
Screen rightfn option arrow down
Screen leftfn option arrow up
Move to Last cellfn control arrow right
Move to first cellfn control arrow left
Deletefn Delete
BackspaceDelete

The substitutions let you perform the same actions you can do in Windows. However, They can make some shortcuts seem complicated on a Mac because you have to use more keys.

Note: If you're using an extended keyboard on a Mac, you don't need to worry about substitutions, since you'll have keys for Home, End, Page up, etc.


Extended keyboards have all the keys

4. Ribbon shortcuts

In the world of shortcuts, perhaps the most painful difference on a Mac is a lack of ribbon shortcuts.

In Excel on Windows, you can use so called accelerator keys to access almost every command in Excel using only your keyboard. This doesn't matter much when you're performing an action that has a dedicated shortcut (i.e. Control + B for bold), since dedicated shortcuts are faster than ribbon shortcuts. But when you want to trigger an action that doesn't have a dedicated shortcut (like sort, hide gridlines, align text, etc.), it hurts a bit.


Excel ribbon in Windows with accelerator keys visible. No equivalent on the Mac!

5. Just different

Finally, some Excel shortcuts are just plain different on a Mac.

For example, the shortcut for Edit Cell in Windows is F2, and on a Mac, it's Control + U. The shortcut to toggle absolute and relative references is F4 in Windows, while on a Mac, its Command T. For a complete list of Windows and Mac shortcuts, see our side-by-side list.

If you want to see more Excel shortcuts for the Mac in action, see our our video tips. Whenever we use a shortcut, we show both the Windows and Mac version.

Excel 2016/Office 365

With the introduction of Excel 2016 on the Mac, Microsoft has started to adjust Mac shortcuts to be more aligned with Windows. As of February 2016, many Windows shortcuts can be used in Excel 2016/Office 365. For example, you can use fn + F4 to toggle between absolute and relative references, Control + Shift + L to toggle a filter on and off, etc. So far, all the shortcuts that have been adjusted to match Windows shortcuts remain backward compatible with previous Mac only shortcuts. For example while fn F4 toggles references on the Mac, the old shortcut Command + T still works as well.

More shortcut resources

  • 200 Excel shortcuts for Win and Mac (online list)
  • The 54 Excel shortcuts you really should know (article)
  • Laminated quick reference cards (old school)
  • Excel shortcuts course - (video training)

While editing large documents in Microsoft Word, you want tools that will help you find and replace certain text. Here are a couple of keyboard shortcuts that will allow just that.

When you are editing a large document in Microsoft Word, you want simple and easy ways to be able to help your editing process. One such tip is to use keyboard shortcuts to find and replace text in the document. That’s right, Keyboard Shortcuts aren’t just for Windows 10.

Here is a look at the keyboard shortcuts you need to know to do just that.

Word Keyboard Shortcuts to Find and Replace Text

While you’re in a large Word document, you can easily find text by hitting Ctrl + F. Then type the word or phrase you’re looking for in the navigation pane. When the word or phrase you are looking for is found, each instance of it will be highlighted in the document. Just this step alone makes it much easier to manage the specific text you’re looking for.

If you want to find and replace text in a Word document, use the key combo Ctrl + H. That will bring up the “Find and Replace” dialog box. Then simply type in the word or words you’re looking for and what to replace it with. Then click the “Replace All” button.

Word will go through and replace the text. When complete, it will display the following message letting you know the task is complete. Click OK.

Use the Ctrl + F keyboard shortcut to find the text that was replaced. Looks good!