This was one of those things that bugged me for ages but because I wasn’t sure of the terminology I could never find an answer for it. How do I edit a cell in Openoffice without doing either of the following?
- Double clicking on the cell.
- Clicking on the cell, then clicking on the edit bar at the top of the window.
The answer is quite simple, and it’s probably in some FAQ somewhere but each time I had a want to find it, I would have been up to my eyeballs in receipts working on my VAT return. Luckily, Lifehacker linked to this Excel keystrokes post which has a couple of magic key combos but look in the comments for the real meat.
How do I edit a cell in my spreadsheet? Hit F2.
F2 F2 F2 F2
Hit the F2 key to edit a cell. When I first discovered this keystroke, it was like the clouds parted and the light of God beamed down on my keyboard. Give it a shot right now if you haven’t used the F2 key before. (Hint: it will allow you to edit the data in the selected cell)
19 Comments
Donal (27 comments.) on February 21, 2007 at 11:10 am.
That and using CTRL+D to fill down are the handiest shortcuts in Excel. (Fill down is when you have a formula in a cell and you want to have the same thing in cells below). Highlight the cell in question and the cells in which you want them. Then press CTRL+D. CTRL+R is the same for fill right, not as common though.
caitriona (1 comments.) on February 21, 2007 at 11:50 pm.
discovering f2 for editing folder & file names (didn’t know it worked in excel too) was happy occasion for me too! ah, such nerds are we
Donncha (1707 comments.) on February 21, 2007 at 11:54 pm.
Ah yes, F2 edits a filename too. I use that quite a lot, never thought it would work in a spreadsheet too!
‘Course, the Mac is different and you press return on a filename to rename it. Where’s the logic?
nathan on August 1, 2007 at 8:25 pm.
Changed my life…I have wondered about this for countless hours of grabbing for the otherwise completely useless mouse and swearing to myself at each time wasting movement that i made. Now i can work even fast on spreadsheets that nobody ever looks at and even worse, statistically won’t even exist in 20 years. Woo Hoo.
Honestly though….thanks!
Ceri Thomas on March 24, 2008 at 8:34 pm.
Hi, I need to change a singular word in excel open office but in approx 30 different places in 1 document, I will need to do this for many pages, is there a short cut I can use rather than change each word individually? Thanks.
Hardwear (1 comments.) on August 22, 2008 at 3:37 pm.
thank you for blessing my keyboard too! excel was such a pain in the butt until now
Damon on October 16, 2008 at 6:27 pm.
Thank you!!!!!!!! I’ve been doing this the long way for YEARS
Hernan on April 15, 2009 at 6:08 pm.
I agree, F2 is heaven
RunDeep on July 7, 2009 at 10:33 pm.
Holy crap- I’ve needed this for ages but never sought to look it up until now. Thanks!
david on August 25, 2009 at 3:45 pm.
Thanks!!!!
pratik on September 30, 2009 at 7:31 am.
it is indeed very useful. thought there would be a shortcut but never bothered to use it.
Jodi (1 comments.) on November 11, 2009 at 8:00 pm.
You, my friend, have become my HERO op the Day – no, week – NO YEAR!!!!!!! You just made my life a whole bunch easier!!!! Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you
JOLAHN on November 15, 2009 at 8:01 am.
This is way helpful!!! IT WORKED F2 IS AWESOME!!!
John on December 8, 2009 at 2:26 pm.
Hi it was quite good tip. I think it’s might be useful for person who can not use mouse as well. I mean like a person with disabilities an so on. It was quite good tip for that I can say. Anyway keep up a good work. All the best.
Paolo on February 4, 2010 at 3:02 pm.
Thanks
www on April 28, 2010 at 1:09 am.
How can I do the F2 on Open Office for Mac? I am looking for the shortcut to edit cells in spreadsheets (the F2, bah), but can’t find it anywhere! The F2 does’t work in Mac, and it’s driving me crazy!
Enthus on August 8, 2010 at 5:05 pm.
I am also a mac user. Try hitting fn+F2 together to edit a cell in Open Office for Mac.
regards…
jassmine on January 18, 2011 at 1:02 pm.
Thaaaaanks! I’m also mac user and looking for F2 function for years!
Erin (1 comments.) on March 11, 2011 at 5:30 am.
OK, but what about editing a cell with a website already written in it w/o clicking the website OR deleting everything before you edit. Possible?