Keyboard shortcut for jumping to Google Sheets formula bar

Question

I couldn't find this shortcut in Sheets support. Basically I want a keyboard shortcut that makes me jump to the formula bar.

Answer 1

There isn't one.

If the cell is blank, just start typing.

If the cell has content, press F2 and you'll be able to edit. (Microsoft Excel is the same.)

I'm afraid if you want to get into the formula bar you'll need to use the mouse.

Answer 2

There's no dedicated keyboard shortcut to jump to the formula bar but one can piggyback on an existing shortcut to get there.

Piggyback on the Range Name Box

The quickest way I've found involves first jumping to the range name box^† which is located just left of the formula bar and then shifting the focus to the formula bar by tabbing twice:

Ctrl+J Tab Tab

 

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^† Range name box added to Sheets January 2021 (read announcement)

Answer 3

As of 2022, there doesn't appear to be a keyboard shortcut that takes the focus from the current cell and then place the cursor into the formula bar.

However, if you need to navigate without the mouse and somehow get the cursor into the formula bar, if perhaps via a painstakingly slow process yet mouse-free, you can:

• "Move focus out of spreadsheet" shortcut:
  • windows: Ctrl + Alt + Shift + m
  • mac: Ctrl + ⌘ + Shift + m
• OR "Go to side panel" shortcut (works with period "." or comma ","):
  • windows: Ctrl + Alt + .
  • mac: ⌘ + Option + .
• Tab to cycle through the UI elements until arriving at the formula bar

For me, this was 20(!) tabs using the first option, and 5 tabs using the second, to cycle from the starting point into the formula bar, but perhaps some sort of automation can convert this keystroke sequence into something that can be more easily invoked with a simple custom keyboard shortcut (which would of course be OS/desktop dependent).

See all shortcuts here: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/181110