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I'm on a Macbook Pro, working quite a lot in Google Sheets. I've deactivated the F-keys (so it's not an option to use F2). I can't find a shortcut for editing a cell with text in it. If it's an empty cell I can just start typing. But if I want to edit a cell with content in it, I can't seem to find a way to do it. I've tried these:

  • CMD+ENTER
  • CTRL+ENTER
  • CMD+u
  • CTRL+u
  • CMD+e
  • CTRL+e

fn-F2 is not an option.

I don't want to use the mouse (double-click on a cell to edit)...It's so clumsy and slow.

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  • Sorry to be obnoxious, but why deactivate the F-keys? It's one of the more annoying things I find in the Apple default setup - I always change the setting to use regular F-keys on all Macs I've regularly used. Plays better with applications expecting a PC-style keyboard that way, and I don't fiddle with the screen brightness that often... ;)
    – Per Lundberg
    Nov 23, 2018 at 8:37
  • 1
    Because I'm on a Macbook Pro 15'', with the touchbar. The touch-bar is good for usual stuff, that the Apple-keys offered you: volume-control, brightness, etc. But to find an F-key, without looking at the keyboard is as easy as finding the G-spot; so it's better to assume that it's simply not there and move along. :-)
    – Zeth
    Nov 24, 2018 at 3:14
  • Fair enough @Zeth. The Touchbar was one of the horrible things I disliked about my 2017 MBP. ;) But, I've since then switched jobs and am using Linux on the desktop instead... :)
    – Per Lundberg
    Nov 25, 2018 at 18:55

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
41

You can just press the Enter key and it should start editing your current cell.

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1
  • 6
    Wow, I feel so stupid now
    – patreu22
    Nov 28, 2020 at 12:29
6

F2 seemed like a cumbersome keyboard shortcut for such a basic thing as editing a cell, so I was really relieved when I finally realised that just pressing Enter works too.

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  • 1
    This is the answer. How the hell did I never realize this. Thank you!
    – nicolefurlan
    Mar 29, 2019 at 18:53
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In the hope of avoiding disappointment should anyone happen on this expecting a more comprehensive answer, the editing shortcut keys for a Mac are listed at M+ Google/Archive:

WA107404 shortcut keys for Mac editing

Action                  Shortcut
Undo                    ⌘+Z
Insert time             ⌘+Shift+:
Insert date             ⌘+;
Fill range              ⌘+Enter
Fill down               ⌘+D
Fill right              ⌘+R
Insert/edit comment     Shift+F2
Redo                    ⌘+Y
Edit a cell             Fn+F2
Ignore changes          Escape

Details should also be accessible through the Help menu (image from a Windows system):

Help menu

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1

Wups... I can see, that when I press the FN, then the F-keys are actually showed in the touch-bar.

So FN+F2 is actually an option. However... I improved it, but mapping CTRL+U to FN+F2 using BetterTouchTool (really easy to setup these shortcuts in there).

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