Increase ease of navigation with Focus Cell in Excel 

Hello, Microsoft 365 Insiders! My name is Katherine Ho, and I’m a product manager on the Excel team. We’re excited to share with you a new Excel feature that aims to improve the visibility of active cells. Meet Focus Cell!

Improve navigation with Focus Cell in Excel

Focus Cell applies a vivid highlight to the corresponding row and column of the active cell and increases the border thickness of the active cell. This makes the active cell more visible and makes it easier to identify data in the same row and column.

Animation showing the Focus Cell command used in an Excel worksheet.

How it works

1. Open an existing worksheet containing a large data set.

2. to see tab, select focus cell Press the button to turn the feature on or off, or press Alt + W + E + F.

Focus cell button on the View tab

3. To change the highlight color, select the arrow to the right of the focus cell button, then select focus cell color.

Colors available when using the Focus Cell Color command

tips and tricks

• To access commands more easily focus cell Click the button and then Add to quick access toolbar.

 Add Quick Access Toolbar commands in the foreground and worksheets, and to the View tab in the background.

• After the command is added to the Quick Access toolbar, you can turn cell focus on or off by simply selecting the corresponding icon in the upper left corner of the Excel window.

Focus cell button on the quick access toolbar

• By default, Excel for Windows automatically activates the focus cell when you use the Find and Replace commands, making it easier to find the active cell when it moves. To change this setting View > Focus Cell > Show Auto Highlight.

Show auto-highlight command in focus cell drop-down menu

• Focus cells are not supported while using window pinning or split window.

effectiveness

This feature is available to Beta channel users running version 2410 (build 18118.20000) or higher.

memo: Focus Cell for Mac and web is coming soon.

feedback

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this new feature! If you have any feedback or suggestions, you can submit them by selecting: help> feedbackIn Excel. You can also submit new ideas or vote on other ideas by: microsoft feedback.  

Learn about: Microsoft 365 Insider Program And sign up Microsoft 365 Insider Newsletter Get the latest on Insider features in your inbox once a month!