Keyboard shortcuts

Access all Handsontable features using just your keyboard. Use shortcuts you know from Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel.

Overview

This page lists all of Handsontable’s default keyboard shortcuts.

These keyboard shortcuts work when you navigate the grid. They come from Handsontable’s Core, so they work out of the box, with no need for additional plugins.

Windows	macOS	Action	Excel	Sheets
Arrow keys	Arrow keys	Move one cell up, down, left, or right	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`Backspace`	`Cmd`+`Backspace`	Scroll the viewport to show the focused cell	✗	✓
`Ctrl`+`↑`	`Cmd`+`↑`	Move to the first cell of the current column	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`↓`	`Cmd`+`↓`	Move to the last cell of the current column	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`←`	`Cmd`+`←`	Move to the leftmost cell of the current row	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`→`	`Cmd`+`→`	Move to the rightmost cell of the current row	✓	✓
`F2`	`F2`	Enter the editing mode of the active cell	✓	✓
`Enter`	`Enter`	Enter the editing mode of the active cell	✗	✓
`Shift`+`Enter`	`Shift`+`Enter`	Enter the editing mode of the active cell	✗	✓
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`Enter`	`Cmd`+`Shift`+`Enter`	Save and close editor	✓	✓
Alphanumeric keys	Alphanumeric keys	Enter the editing mode of the active cell and enter the pressed key’s value into the cell	✓	✓
`Tab`	`Tab`	Move to the next cell^* (if there’s only one column available, move one cell down)	✓	✓
`Shift`+`Tab`	`Shift`+`Tab`	Move to the previous cell^* (if there’s only one column available, move one cell up)	✓	✓
`Home`	`Home`	Move to the first non-frozen cell of the current row^*	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`Home`	`Cmd`+`Home`	Move to the first non-frozen cell of the grid^*	✗	✓
`End`	`End`	Move to the last non-frozen cell of the current row^*	✗	✓
`Ctrl`+`End`	`Cmd`+`End`	Move to the last non-frozen cell of the grid^*	✗	✓
`Page Up`	`Page Up`	Move one screen up	✓	✓
`Page Down`	`Page Down`	Move one screen down	✓	✓

^* This action depends on your layout direction.

Selection keyboard shortcuts

These keyboard shortcuts help you select cells. They come from Handsontable’s Core, so they work out of the box, with no need for additional plugins.

Windows	macOS	Action	Excel	Sheets
`Ctrl`+`A`	`Cmd`+`A`	Select all cells	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`Space`	`Cmd`+`Shift`+`Space`	Select all cells and headers	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`Space`	`Ctrl`+`Space`	Select the entire column^*	✓	✓
`Shift`+`Space`	`Shift`+`Space`	Select the entire row	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`↑`	`Cmd`+`Shift`+`↑`	Extend the selection to the first cell of the current column^**	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`↓`	`Cmd`+`Shift`+`↓`	Extend the selection to the last cell of the current column^**	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`←`	`Cmd`+`Shift`+`←`	Extend the selection to the leftmost cell of the current row^**	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`→`	`Cmd`+`Shift`+`→`	Extend the selection to the rightmost cell of the current row^**	✓	✓
`Shift` + Arrow keys	`Shift` + Arrow keys	Extend the selection by one cell	✓	✓
`Shift`+`Home`	`Shift`+`Home`	Extend the selection to the first non-frozen cell of the current row^***	✓	✗
`Shift`+`End`	`Shift`+`End`	Extend the selection to the last non-frozen cell of the current row^***	✗	✗
`Shift`+`Page Up`	`Shift`+`Page Up`	Extend the selection by one screen up	✓	✓
`Shift`+`Page Down`	`Shift`+`Page Down`	Extend the selection by one screen down	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`Enter`	`Cmd`+`Enter`	Fill the selected range of cells with the value of the active cell	✗	✓
`Delete`	`Delete`	Clear the contents of the selected cells	✓	✓
`Backspace`	`Backspace`	Clear the contents of the selected cells	✓	✓

^* Does not work on macOS with multiple keyboard layouts. To work around this issue, add Fn to the key combination.
^** In case of multiple selection layers, only the last selection layer gets extended.
^*** This action depends on your layout direction.

Edition keyboard shortcuts

These keyboard shortcuts work when you’re editing a cell’s contents. They come from Handsontable’s Core, so they work out of the box, with no need for additional plugins.

Windows	macOS	Action	Excel	Sheets
Arrow keys	Arrow keys	Move the cursor through the text	✓	✓
Alphanumeric keys	Alphanumeric keys	Enter the pressed key’s value into the cell	✓	✓
`Enter`	`Enter`	Complete the cell entry and move to the cell below	✓	✓
`Shift`+`Enter`	`Shift`+`Enter`	Complete the cell entry and move to the cell above	✓	✓
`Tab`	`Tab`	Complete the cell entry and move to the next cell^*	✓	✓
`Shift`+`Tab`	`Shift`+`Tab`	Complete the cell entry and move to the previous cell^*	✓	✓
`Delete`	`Delete`	Delete one character after the cursor^*	✓	✓
`Backspace`	`Backspace`	Delete one character before the cursor^*	✓	✓
`Home`	`Home`	Move the cursor to the beginning of the text^*	✓	✓
`End`	`End`	Move the cursor to the end of the text^*	✓	✓
`Ctrl` + Arrow keys	`Cmd` + Arrow keys	Move the cursor to the beginning or to the end of the text	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`Shift` + Arrow keys	`Cmd`+`Shift` + Arrow keys	Extend the selection to the beginning or to the end of the text	✓	✓
`Page Up`	`Page Up`	Complete the cell entry and move one screen up	✓	✓
`Page Down`	`Page Down`	Complete the cell entry and move one screen down	✓	✓
`Alt`+`Enter`	`Option`+`Enter`	Insert a line break	✗	✓
`Ctrl`+`Enter`	`Ctrl`/`Cmd`+`Enter`	Insert a line break	✗	✓
`Escape`	`Escape`	Cancel the cell entry and exit the editing mode	✓	✓

^* This action depends on your layout direction.

Checkbox editor keyboard shortcuts

These keyboard shortcuts work in the checkbox cell editor.

Windows	macOS	Action	Excel	Sheets
`Space`	`Space`	Check or uncheck the checkbox	✗	✓
`Enter`	`Enter`	Check or uncheck the checkbox	✗	✓
`Delete`	`Delete`	Uncheck the checkbox	✗	✓
`Backspace`	`Backspace`	Uncheck the checkbox	✗	✓

`handsontable` editor keyboard shortcuts

These keyboard shortcuts work in the handsontable cell editor.

Windows	macOS	Action	Excel	Sheets
`↑`	`↑`	Move to the cell above the active cell	✗	✗
`↓`	`↓`	Move to the cell below the active cell	✗	✗

Plugin keyboard shortcuts

These keyboard shortcuts work with particular plugins.

Clipboard keyboard shortcuts

These keyboard shortcuts work when the CopyPaste plugin is enabled.

Windows	macOS	Action	Excel	Sheets
`Ctrl`+`X`	`Cmd`+`X`	Cut the contents of the selected cells to the system clipboard	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`C`	`Cmd`+`C`	Copy the contents of the selected cells to the system clipboard	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`V`	`Cmd`+`V`	Paste from the system clipboard	✓	✓

Cell merging keyboard shortcuts

These keyboard shortcuts work when the MergeCells plugin is enabled.

Windows	macOS	Action	Excel	Sheets
`Ctrl`+`M`	`Ctrl`+`M`	Merge or unmerge the selected cells	✗	✗

Undo and redo keyboard shortcuts

These keyboard shortcuts work when the UndoRedo plugin is enabled.

Windows	macOS	Action	Excel	Sheets
`Ctrl`+`Z`	`Cmd`+`Z`	Undo the last action	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`Y`	`Cmd`+`Y`	Redo the last action	✓	✓
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`Z`	`Cmd`+`Shift`+`Z`	Redo the last action	✓	✓

These keyboard shortcuts work in context menus. To activate them, enable the ContextMenu plugin.

Windows	macOS	Action	Excel	Sheets
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`\` or `Shift`+`F10`	`Cmd`+`Shift`+`\` or `Shift`+`F10`	Open the context menu	✗	✓
Arrow keys	Arrow keys	Move one available menu item up, down, left, or right	✓	✓
`Page Up`	`Page Up`	Move to the first visible item of the context menu or submenu	✓	✗
`Page Down`	`Page Down`	Move to the last visible item of the context menu or submenu	✓	✗
`Escape`	`Escape`	Close the context menu or submenu	✓	✓
`Enter`	`Enter`	Run the action of the selected menu item	✓	✗

Column groups keyboard shortcuts

These keyboard shortcuts work in column groups, also known as “nested headers”. To activate them, enable the NestedHeaders plugin.

Windows	macOS	Action	Excel	Sheets
`Enter`	`Enter`	Collapse or expand the column group	✗	✗

Row parent-child keyboard shortcuts

These keyboard shortcuts work in row groups, also known as “nested rows”. To activate them, enable the NestedRows plugin.

Windows	macOS	Action	Excel	Sheets
`Enter`	`Enter`	Collapse or expand the row group	✗	✗

Rows sorting keyboard shortcuts

These keyboard shortcuts work with rows sorting. To activate them, enable the ColumnSorting, or the MultiColumnSorting plugin.

Windows	macOS	Action	Excel	Sheets
`Enter`	`Enter`	Sort data by the selected column, in ascending, descending, or the original order	✗	✗
`Shift`+`Enter`	`Shift`+`Enter`	Sort data by multiple columns, in ascending, descending, or the original order. Requires the `MultiColumnSorting` plugin.	✗	✗

These keyboard shortcuts work with the column menu. To activate them, enable the DropdownMenu plugin.

Windows	macOS	Action	Excel	Sheets
`Shift`+`Alt`+`↓`	`Shift`+`Option`+`↓`	Open the column menu. Works in any cell, if the respective column header displays the menu button.	✗	✗
`Ctrl`+`Enter`	`Cmd`+`Enter`	Open the column menu. Works only when you’re selecting a column header that displays the column menu button.	✗	✗

Column filter keyboard shortcuts

These keyboard shortcuts work with the column filter. To activate them, enable the Filters plugin and the DropdownMenu plugin.

Windows	macOS	Action	Excel	Sheets
`Alt`+`A`	`Option`+`A`	Clear all filters	✗	✗

Comments keyboard shortcuts

These keyboard shortcuts work with comments. To activate them, enable the Comments plugin.

Windows	macOS	Action	Excel	Sheets
`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`M`	`Ctrl`+`Option`+`M`	Add or edit a comment	✗	✓
`Ctrl`+`Enter`	`Cmd`+`Enter`	Save and exit the current comment	✗	✓
`Escape`	`Escape`	Exit the current comment without saving	✗	✗
`Tab`	`Tab`	Save and exit the current comment, move the selection to the next cell	✗	✗
`Shift + Tab`	`Shift + Tab`	Save and exit the current comment, move the selection to the previous cell	✗	✗