F2 Cursor Key Toggle Edit and Cell Selection in Calc

[noahglenn]

Hi there,

I’ve become accustomed to using keyboard shortcuts to move quickly in spreadsheets.
One of the most common functions in Excel is the ability to toggle between Edit Cell and Select Cell/Cell Point using the F2 function key.

For example:

1. Enter 2 into cell A1, 3 into cell
   A2, and 1 into cell A3 (for calculation in following
   steps).
2. Select cell B2 using the
   mouse or keys.
3. Click F2 to enter edit mode in B2.
4. Type =A1+A2.
5. Hit enter, and the result should be 5.
6. Click F2 to enter edit.
7. Now imagine you would like to add cell A3. You click the “+” button and attempt to move the cursor to cell A3 with the keys. However, the cursor remains in the cell. In Excel, you could hit F2 again, which would allow the arrow keys to leave the cell being edited. I cannot do so in LibreOffice Calc.

I’m using 7.0.0.3 on MacOS Big Sur.

Is there a way to do this that I’m missing?

[anon73440385]

On my system (after step You click the “+” button): F2, followed by moving arrows keys allows to move to desired cell (though I don’t understand the prodecure, since it requires in your example 5 keystrokes [F2, 2 x DOWN, 1 x LEFT, ENTER] while simply typing A 3 ENTER requires 3 keystrokes.)

[noahglenn]

Are you using windows?

[anon73440385]

No - GNU/Linux (openSUSE Leap 15.2 and LibreOffice 7.1.0.3)

[noahglenn]

I’m not sure what the problem is. I can use the arrow keys to reference cells as long as I begin edit mode with the = key. F2 just won’t do it, which means I can’t toggle between keying through the cell itself and selecting reference cells.

To respond to your statement about the procedure, it’s because I do this rapidly with big excel models, and it’s harder to identify the cell reference normally. Thus the advantage of being able to go select it with arrow keys.

[anon73440385]

Seems to be a problem on macOS - could repro on a macOS test system.

> ... because I do this rapidly with **big** excel models,

Of course it’s up to you, how you prefer things to do it. But the larger a sheet becomes the larger the penalty using arrow keys.

[anon73440385]

Hello,

this is bug tdf#108911 Cannot toggle cursor focus between formula and worksheet - So not worth to further investigate, but you may want to leave a comment in the bug report.