Google Sheets – How to Navigate Inside a Cell After Typing

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This seems like it's a blindingly simple question with an obvious answer yet I cannot figure out how to do it nor find solutions online.

If I type some text into a Google Sheets spreadsheet cell and make a typo, what is the least number of key presses to navigate back to the place where the typo is so I can edit it? For example: this s some text

Normally you would press Home, Ctrl+→, →, i. However whenever you press left or right after immediately entering text in a cell it will navigate away from the current cell.

If the cell content is not new then you can navigate the text using normal text navigation shortcuts but needing to leave a cell and coming back adds more key presses.

I've tried different combinations of modifier keys and cannot figure out how to navigate within a cell without first leaving. The quickest way I've found is to leave the cell and come back to it which adds at least 3-key presses (←+→+Enter, Enter+↑+Enter, etc.)

Best Answer

As you already found out the far quickest is to leave the cell with some arrow and then return. But also there is another way (however it depends on how and where exactly you want to return). Let's say you made a typo in xxxxaaxx (a instead of x), you are able to "return" only by mouse clicking into the overview field which is not always plausible especially when you don't wanna do that extra hand move.

And also is worth to mention the possibility of mouse clicking directly into fx field right where you need to. fx field/box can be extended beyond one row in case of long formulas.

Related Solutions

Google-sheets – How to set a Google Docs Spreadsheet cell format to bare text

If you prefix the data in the cell with a single quote—'—it should prevent any default formatting.

Google Sheets – Text Cell Formatting Question

I've created this little script to format the input:

function SCHANGE(array) {
  if(typeof(array) == 'number') {
    var number = array.toString();
  } else {
    var number = array.replace(/\D/g,'');
  }

  if(number.length != 12) {
    return "<> 12"
  } else {
    var first = number.substring(0,4);
    var mid = number.substring(4,8);
    var last = number.substring(8,12);
    var formText = first + " - " + mid + " - " + last;
  }
  return formText;
}

The script validates the input and converts it, checks whether 12 digits are given and returns the outcome. I've prepared an example file for you to play around with: formatted text.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Google-sheets – How to set a Google Docs Spreadsheet cell format to bare text

Google Sheets – Text Cell Formatting Question

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