Control The Cursor Movement on Pressing Enter

Typically, whenever you press Enter in Excel, cursor will move one box down (there are few exceptions, that’s not the point for this post). Few know that you can command Excel to behave differently upon pressing Enter viz. do nothing, go Up, Left or Right. Let’s see how to do that.

Excel 2010 and later:

No Cursor Movement after Enter

File tab > Options > Advanced tab > Editing options segment > clear the check box After pressing Enter, move selection > OK.

To Move Cursor In a Direction

File tab > Options > Advanced tab > Editing options segment > check the check box After pressing Enter, move selection > and select the direction you want the cursor to move in Direction drop down. Available options are Down, Right, Up and Left > OK.

Excel 2007:

No Cursor Movement after Enter

Click the Microsoft Office button > Excel Options > Advanced tab > Editing options segment > clear the check box After pressing Enter, move selection > OK.

To Move Cursor In a Direction

Click the Microsoft Office button > Excel Options > Advanced tab > Editing options segment > check the check box After pressing Enter, move selection > and select the direction you want the cursor to move in Direction drop down. Available options are Down, Right, Up and Left > OK.

Excel 2003:

No Cursor Movement after Enter

Tools menu > Options > Edit tab > clear the check box Move selection after Enter > OK.

To Move Cursor In a Direction

Tools menu > Options > Edit tab check the check box Move selection after Enter > and select the direction you want the cursor to move in Direction drop down. Available options are Down, Right, Up and Left > OK.

Once you are done with above steps, press Enter in excel and see how the cursor is moving.