How do I switch between workbooks on excel Mac?

March 23, 2025 9:36 AM

I’m running the latest version of macOS Sequoia and using Microsoft 365 (Excel). I often have multiple workbooks open, but I can’t find a keyboard shortcut that lets me switch between them.

I’ve tried:
• Command + Tab just switches between applications, not windows within Excel.
• Control + Tab brings up the search bar.
• Control + ’ (apostrophe) skips a few cells but doesn’t help with switching workbooks.

This is really disrupting my workflow. Does anyone know a working shortcut—or even a workaround—for quickly toggling between open Excel workbooks on Mac?

posted by cacofonie to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

Does control plus page up or page down do anything? Sounds like it should, though I can't test at the moment.
posted by sagc at 9:39 AM on March 23

Command + ` (the backtick character under the tilde, usually to the left of the 1 key, not the apostrophe character under the double-quotes next to Return) cycles between Workbooks for me on Excel in Sequoia.

If you inadvertently meant toggling between Worksheet tabs, Option + Right Arrow cycles to the next Worksheet, Option + Left Arrow cycles back.
posted by eschatfische at 9:48 AM on March 23 [1 favorite]

Yes, as eschatfische says, it's command-backquote. That can be used to cycle between the windows any application. It's like the internal version of command-tab. Add the shift key and it goes in the other direction. It's one of my most-used Macintosh commands.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 10:14 AM on March 23

Response by poster: Sorry, I meant I had tried Command + ` (the one under the tilde)

That just skips the active cell forward a bunch.
posted by cacofonie at 10:36 AM on March 23

Best answer: In System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> Keyboard, what is listed for "Move focus to next window"? That's the command that Excel will use to move between Workbooks, which by system default is Command + ` but may have been changed.
posted by eschatfische at 11:04 AM on March 23

Response by poster: it looks like when I press command `, it's toggling the "show formula" view, and that's overriding the default mac window shortcut.

Any ideas around this?
posted by cacofonie at 7:45 PM on March 23

Best answer: I figured it out! After muddling around, I realized that command - ` wasn't working in *any* app, so it was a mac issue. Once I started googling it as a mac - and not excel - issue, I was able to find someone else with a similar problem and a fix:

I had to turn off "stage manager" and turn it back on again.

Such silliness. Thanks!!
posted by cacofonie at 8:17 PM on March 23 [3 favorites]