How to force L-R arrows to move within the cell I’m typing in and not jumping to another cell

English
#1

I tried to go in Tools > Customize > Keyboard, selecting right or left arrow and trying to find a different behavior, but no luck.
The problem is, if I go to a cell and start typing, and the cursor is clearly in focus on that cell as it is blinking, if I move left because I miss a digit or a letter, it goes to the previous cell.
The wanted behavior, moving one character left per stroke (or right, if I hit the right arrow key).
Oddly, if I double click and type in the cell the arrows behave as they expected.

Yes, the solution would be to use Writer for docs and Calc for calculation sheets, but I get these xlsx files from a client of mine, and can’t do anything about it, unfortunately.

Thanks in advance!

#2

Welcome!
Just press F2 before use arrows: start typing, press F2, use left arrow…

1 Like
#3

You have to select a cell, then “tell” calc you want to edit the content. Only in that mode you can use the arrows to move by character. You may also use the input-bar above the grid, but this also needs an additional click…

#4

Thanks JohnSUN, that did the trick!
How about moving right instead?
Thanks a lot

#5

Where to the right? The cursor is at the end of the line you have already typed. Therefore, first move it to the left and only then will it be possible to move it to the right. Or did I misunderstand your problem?

#6

well, if I select a cell and start typing, the text appear in the cell and the cursor starts blinking… as a dumb user I think I am editing the cell, right? :smile:
I wrote “oddly”, because if I double click on the cell, I still can type, I still see the cursor, but I have a different (correct) behavior of the arrows.

#7

well, if I type something, I misspell it, I go back (left) and once corrected I’d like to go back where I was.
I am a translator, and more often than not I have to transcreate: it means giving the same message but with totally different sentences, that I create on the go. Simply put, something already written may change afterwards because the sentence needs to be adjusted.
Thanks

#8

Press F2 now and the behavior of the arrows will again become “wrong” :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

After switching the input mode with F2, you can use the arrow keys and the Home and End keys as in a regular text editor

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#9

Thanks JohnSUN, unfortunately with End it jumps to the last cell (or the first one with Home)

#10

Press F2 once to enter Edit Cell Mode (menu Edit); then you can use Left Arrow, Right Arrow, Home and End keys (also with Ctrl) to move the cursor in the cell.

Press F2 again to exit Edit Cell Mode; then you can use Left Arrow, Right Arrow, Home and End keys (etc.) to move to another cell.

Shortcut Keys for Spreadsheets.

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