How to Enable Mac-Style Text Selection Inside Excel Cells on macOS

If you use Microsoft Excel on macOS, you might have noticed that Command + Arrow keys don’t behave as expected when editing text inside a cell. Unlike most native Mac apps (like TextEdit), pressing Command + Left/Right Arrowdoesn’t select text from the cursor to the start or end of the line. Instead, Excel treats these keys differently, which can disrupt your workflow.

The Problem

  • When editing inside an Excel cell, Command + Arrow keys don’t select text the way native Mac apps do.

  • The usual way to jump to the start or end of the line is with Fn + Arrow keys, but these don’t select text by default.

  • Excel’s default shortcuts inside cells can feel clunky compared to native macOS text navigation.

The Solution: Remap Command + Arrow Keys Using Karabiner-Elements

Karabiner-Elements is a powerful free tool for macOS that lets you customize keyboard behavior at a low level. You can remap Command + Left/Right Arrow to perform Shift + Home/End respectively, which selects the text from the cursor position to the start or end of the line — just like in native Mac apps.

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Download and install Karabiner-Elements from https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/.

  2. Create a JSON configuration file for the remapping:

{
  "title": "Command + Arrow to select text inside Excel cells",
  "rules": [
    {
      "description": "Map Command + Left/Right Arrow to Shift + Home/End inside Excel",
      "manipulators": [
        {
          "type": "basic",
          "from": {
            "key_code": "left_arrow",
            "modifiers": { "mandatory": ["command"] }
          },
          "to": [
            { "key_code": "home", "modifiers": ["shift"] }
          ],
          "conditions": [
            { "type": "frontmost_application_if", "bundle_identifiers": ["^com\\.microsoft\\.Excel$"] }
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "basic",
          "from": {
            "key_code": "right_arrow",
            "modifiers": { "mandatory": ["command"] }
          },
          "to": [
            { "key_code": "end", "modifiers": ["shift"] }
          ],
          "conditions": [
            { "type": "frontmost_application_if", "bundle_identifiers": ["^com\\.microsoft\\.Excel$"] }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

  1. Save the file to ~/.config/karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/ (create folders if needed).

  2. Open Karabiner-Elements → Complex Modifications → Add rule and enable your new rule.

What This Does

  • Pressing Command + Left Arrow inside an Excel cell now selects text from the cursor to the start of the line.

  • Pressing Command + Right Arrow selects text from the cursor to the end of the line.

  • This behavior matches the native macOS experience in text editors.

Notes

  • This remapping only works when you’re editing inside an Excel cell (not when navigating between cells).

  • Up and Down arrow remapping for text selection inside multiline cells is more complex and currently unsupported.

  • You can disable this rule anytime in Karabiner-Elements if you want to revert.

Conclusion

With this simple Karabiner-Elements tweak, your Excel for macOS text editing experience inside cells will feel much more natural and consistent with the rest of macOS. If you often edit text inside Excel cells, this is a small change that can save a lot of frustration!

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