To go to the beginning of a worksheet in Excel for Mac, press Control+Home. On a MacBook without a dedicated Home key, press Control+Fn+Left Arrow: hold Control and Fn, then tap the left arrow.
These are the combinations listed in Microsoft's Excel keyboard shortcut guide. Use the Control key, marked control or ⌃; it is a different key from Command (⌘).
Control+Home on Windows, Mac, and MacBook
| Keyboard | Shortcut to the beginning of the worksheet |
|---|---|
| Windows keyboard | Ctrl+Home |
| Mac keyboard with a Home key | Control+Home |
| MacBook keyboard | Control+Fn+Left Arrow |
Finish any cell entry before using the shortcut so you are navigating the grid. It operates within the current sheet. If you need to choose a different sheet first, use its tab at the bottom of the workbook; our guide to Excel worksheets explains how those tabs work.
Home alone goes to the start of the row
The Control key changes the destination. These three navigation commands do different jobs:
| Destination | Mac keyboard with Home/End keys | MacBook keyboard |
|---|---|---|
| Start of the current row | Home | Fn+Left Arrow |
| Beginning of the worksheet | Control+Home | Control+Fn+Left Arrow |
| Last used cell in the worksheet | Control+End | Control+Fn+Right Arrow |
For example, from cell H50 in an ordinary unfrozen sheet, the row-start command takes you to A50. The sheet-start command takes you to A1.
Jump directly to A1 with Go To
When you want a specific cell, Go To removes any ambiguity:
- Press Control+G to open Go To.
- Enter A1 in the reference field.
- Press Return.
You can use another address, such as D25, in the same way. This is also useful when a sheet's frozen panes make navigation confusing. Freezing rows and columns keeps part of the sheet visible while the rest scrolls; specifying A1 tells Excel exactly which cell you want selected.
If the shortcut does not work
Check that you are holding Control, and include Fn on a MacBook. macOS shortcuts or keyboard utilities can intercept key combinations, and Microsoft's documented shortcuts use a US keyboard layout. Try Go To if your setup handles the keys differently.
For historical context, our earlier Control+Home macro workaround describes a custom approach written for Excel 2011. Its interface instructions are dated; use the built-in shortcut above for ordinary navigation.