The only major flaw Im contending with is, of course, a Microsoft product Excel 2008 for Mac.

The most notable difference is the F2 button, which activates the cell youre in to be edited.

Its a total time-suck, unless you know F2, which eliminates the need to track the mouse to the formula bar.

If you want to do the PC version of F2 function in Excel on a Mac, you need to hit Control-U, which takes more time and isnt an intuitive use of finger placement on the keyboard.

Also, Excel is one of those programs that youre likely to be required to use in PC at workspaces and Mac elsewhere, so youll be hopping back and forth between the two its really important to keep the most important shortcuts the same to avoid aggravation.

F2 Function In Excel Software Have Never

Its as though the people programming the software have never used the program this is an essential function to have.

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If you use Excel on both the Mac and the PC, youre probably aware that there are numerous differences between the two platforms keyboard shortcuts.

Using the View - Customize Toolbars Menus menu item (in Excel 2008; View - Toolbars - Customize ToolbarsMenus in Excel 2004), you can change the shortcuts on your Mac to match those on your PC.

You could do it the other way around, of course, setting your PC up to match your Mac.) This works well for most shortcuts, but theres one in particular that I use all the time thats immune to this solution: the keyboard shortcut for edit this cell.

On the PC, you can edit the current cell in place by simply pressing F2.

On the Mac, the equivalent keyboard shortcut is Control-U, as F2 is assigned to cut the contents of the current cell.

If youd like to see all of Excels keyboard shortcuts, open Help - Excel Help, then type keyboard shortcuts in the search box, and then select Excel Keyboard Shortcuts in the results box.

Youll probably find quite a few that you didnt know about.) After many years of using a PC in my prior job, I found the Control-U shortcut not only hard to remember, but harder to type.

Unfortunately, you wont find the edit this cell command listed in Excels keyboard customization section, so theres no apparent way to change the shortcut.

With a bit of help from a third-party program, though, you can achieve the same end resultmake F2 edit the current cell in Excel (2004 or 2008) on the Mac.

To make this work, youll need some sort of program that supports macros; Im going to use Butler, but you should be able to use iKey, Keyboard Maestro, or QuicKeys, or any similar program.

Youll have to modify the instructions, of course, to match the program youre using, but its a pretty simple techniquethe macro program will be used to send a Control-U to Excel when you press F2.

Click somewhere in the Hidden section (or in any other section where youd like to put the command), then click the Plus sign at the bottom left of Butlers interface.

Select Smart Item - Keystrokes, which will add a new macro entry in the Hidden section.

In the Keys section, type Control-U, then click the Triggers tab.

In the Triggers section, click in the Hot Key box and press F2.

When you do, youll see a warning about F2 being a reserved hot key; just click Use F2 Anyway to dismiss the dialog.

Change the Exceptions pop-up to Only, and in the text box below, enter Microsoft Excel (if you use Excel 2008) or Excel (if you use Excel 2004).

If you use both programs, enter Microsoft Excel,Excel in the box.

When its all set up, the Triggers section should appear as in the image at right.

You may then have to quit and restart Excel to have the new shortcut take effectyou shouldnt have to, but I found it necessary on one Mac (but not on another).

You can use this same technique to remap any other commands that may not appear in Excels customization menu.

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F2 Function In Excel For Mac