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Excel keyboard menu navigation - PC to Mac

O

oyama

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 14, 2006
9
0
Howdy,

I've just moved from Windows to Mac. I do a lot of spreadsheet work in MS Excel. I'm old-school (been a spreadsheet jockey for 15 years) and do not use the mouse when navigating through excel. Its all keyboard. But now I'm struggling with the mac. While there are a lot of keyboard shortcuts using the apple and option buttons, I can't find any way to mimic the keyboard commands in Excel for Windows.

As an example, to open a file in Windows (besides ctl-o) you type alt-f-o. alt-f takes you to the file menu, then "o" opens the file open dialog box. While I can find the mac equivalent of ctl-o, I cannot find the mac equivalent of alt-f-o.

As another example, to set column width in Windows, I'd type alt-o-c-w and then enter the width I want. alt-o opens the format menu, "c" selects column and "w" selects width. I cannot find the equivalent keyboard insructions to do the same on the mac.

In short, I can find no keyboard command in excel for mac that gives me access to the menu bar and then allows me to follow with other key strokes to navigate through the menus.

Can anyone PLEASE help. I cannot effectively use excel on the mac and will have to use it through parallels if I cannot create the same capability/experience on the mac.

Thanks,
Jeff.
 
oyama said:
Can anyone PLEASE help. I cannot effectively use excel on the mac and will have to use it through parallels if I cannot create the same capability/experience on the mac.
Click to expand...

Yes you can. The world managed just fine when Excel dropped the Lotus 1-2-3 keyboard helper. This is no different.
 
Thanks, but that's not all that helpful. I don't use the lotus 123 command helper. I use microsoft's keyboard commands that are native to the application. I'm looking for the same functionality on the mac. Simple. If it doesn't exist, I'd like to know that.

If you have something to add besides essentially telling me to "get over it", that'd be great.

Jeff.
 
Really, you do need to get over it, otherwise you will be fighting that Mac every step of the way. You're not in Kansas any more. I'm sorry if you don't like that answer, but it's the truth.

Very seriously, if you are unable to learn the new computer's interface, you may be better off returning that new Mac and getting a Wintel box. You'll be happier.
 
I have no other issues with the interface and I'm not going back to the PC just because the excel interface on the mac is different.

Let me state my question more clearly...

Does excel on the mac provide the same ability to navigate menus like I can do on the windows box?

If you can definitively answer yes or no, I'm interested in the reply. If you don't know the answer, I'd like to know that so I can stop assuming you don't.

Thanks,
Jeff.
 
Excel buttons

Hi,

While I don't know the exact answer to your question, my Dad had the same problem with Excel. He had always made his own shortcuts via QuickKeys and when he got his new iMac at work he did not have the same functionability.

There are still products like Quickkeys out there for OSX. Maybe you could ask someone about how it or a similar program would work in Excel.

My Dad was all set to reorder Quickkeys for OS X, but got used to the missing commands in Excel and decided he did not need it.

Good Luck!,

I can identify with you, whenever I use a PC, I bemoan the missing commands that make life easier on a Mac :)
 
As another example, to set column width in Windows, I'd type alt-o-c-w and then enter the width I want. alt-o opens the format menu, "c" selects column and "w" selects width. I cannot find the equivalent keyboard insructions to do the same on the mac.
Click to expand...

I believe that those particular keyboard shortcuts are built into Windows' interface, and not excel itself.

Hence, that functionality isn't retained when moving to OSX.

However, if you open up your Keyboard control panel in System Preferences, and have a fiddle with full keyboard access or map yourself some common shortcuts, I think you should be able to do fine.
 
???

iMeowbot said:
Very seriously, if you are unable to learn the new computer's interface, you may be better off returning that new Mac and getting a Wintel box. You'll be happier.
Click to expand...

This kind of post really isn't helpful. If all you have to add is negative rubbish like this why post at all?

Back to the question, I've found the conversion over to excel on the Mac a little frustrating too. I only use excel for invoicing, business planning etc so it doesn't take up much of my workflow but I really miss being able to hit F2 to edit a cell. On the mac I have to reach for the mouse and double click a cell to edit it. It's the simplest of things but it really does slow me down! Anyone have a shortcut for this?

Jeff, sorry I can't shed more light on your quandary but I do empathize. ;)
 
Yeah, F2 is definitely something I miss. I've been a spreadsheet jockey for years and almost never touch my mouse. I have never found anyone in my travels that can build a spreadsheet as quickly as I can. Every time you take your hands off the keyboard, you're wasting time. Not being able to navigate excel like I could on the pc is disappointing, but a small price to pay for such a nice experience overall. I have a very short "everythings better on my man but..." list. =)

Xenesis, it makes sense to me that it might be part of Windows vs. the application. If that's true, sounds like I'm SOL.

Well, unless I hear otherwise, I guess I'll do my spreadsheet work in Parallels or just get used to being slower. Fortunately, at this point in my career I'm doing a lot less data jockeying, so it won't be much of an issue I hope.

Br,
Jeff.
 
I agree that the "Alt-'F'" combo is unique to the Windoze world, so you can't mimic that on a Mac.

On the other hand, there are some shortcuts that you may be able to find by trial & error. To edit the current cell, for instance, use "CTRL U" [Windoze "F2"] To sum a column or row, use "Shift-Apple[CMD] T" [Windoze "ALT ="]. Open a current file, and try some different key combinations out. It may be a useful exercise.

Do a Google search for Mac Excel Keybaord Shortcuts and you'll find some helpful sites:

http://calpact.berkeley.edu/info/handouts/PDF/Excel2001_Mac_Shortcuts.pdf

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/excel_keyboard_mac.htm
 
Gerg said:
To edit the current cell, for instance, use "CTRL U" [Windoze "F2"]
Click to expand...

Invaluable information. But isn't it weird that trial-and-error is the only way to find this out (other than stumbling onto this post)? I just got my first mac also, and it's a little like an Easter egg hunt trying to figure out how to do things like this. I would be lost without posts like yours. It seems like the Mac wants you to use the mouse for everything even if you would rather not. (I have thought pointing and clicking to be a huge waste of time since Windows replaced DOS.)
 
skorry1 said:
Invaluable information. But isn't it weird that trial-and-error is the only way to find this out (other than stumbling onto this post)?
Click to expand...

No, this is not the only way. If you people would take twelve seconds to try to solve the problem yourself instead of posting on MR about how the Mac doesn't act just like Windows, you'd find a HUGE list of Excel keyboard shortcuts built right into Excel's help system.

Simply launch Excel, select "Excel Help" from the "Help" menu, and type the word "shortcuts" into the search bar, and click on the first result, which should say "Microsoft Excel keyboard shortcuts" - with what has to be over a hundred shortcuts listed, including CTRL+U.

Why wouldn't this be the first place you look?

I don't even have Office 2004 installed on my System, as I keep it entirely Microsoft-free, and Pages and Keynote are way better than Word and PowerPoint anyway (I never use Excel), but just for this thread, seeing how silly it was, I went and installed it because I was quite confident there had to be a keyboard shortcut list in the help documentation for Excel, which sure enough there was.

....now to delete Microsoft Office 2004....
 
dpaanlka said:
No, this is not the only way. If you people would take twelve seconds to try to solve the problem yourself instead of posting on MR about how the Mac doesn't act just like Windows, you'd find a HUGE list of Excel keyboard shortcuts built right into Excel's help system.

Simply launch Excel, select "Excel Help" from the "Help" menu, and type the word "shortcuts" into the search bar, and click on the first result, which should say "Microsoft Excel keyboard shortcuts" - with what has to be over a hundred shortcuts listed, including CTRL+U.

Why wouldn't this be the first place you look?
Click to expand...

Well, duh, it's obviously easier to whine about something on a forum than it is to actually think about the problem at hand and take steps to solve it. Sheesh.

Seriously, great post.
 
Not So Fast

Well, I am also a new Mac user and also a Excel geek. The only reason I use MS Office is because there is no good equivalent for Mac, which is a shame, because I would love to keep my baby MS-Free, but alas ...

So, the shortcuts are a big stickler for me as well. To answer the comment about "why didn't you use Help-Shortcuts", well, unfortuantely, those shortcuts do not work on my keyboard, as it states. So, when I press ^F2, it does not open my comment for edit, it turns my screen brighter, which for an old guy like me, is helpful, but not exactly what I was looking for. There are good shortcuts there, though, and in case you were not aware, you are able to customize your shortcuts, granted that may take a little time. Just go to Tools, Customize, Customize Keyboard, and whallah ... you become the boss of your computer.

Well, I am off to be the slave to mine. I will probably get a cheap laptop to run business operations, such as my spreadsheet, and leave my little lady mac home to do fun things, such as photos, videos, and endless hours of reading these funny posts.

Good luck!
 
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