As you start working with more data in Google Sheets, you may feel a need to have a quick way to jump to a specific cell or a range. For example, you may want to quickly refer to a specific cell that has some relevant value or a specific row/column. I do this regularly and, fortunately, there are a few neat ways that allow you to do just that.
I made this tutorial to show two simple ways to quickly jump to a specific cell in Google Sheets (or jump to a specific range, row or column). Specifically, I cover how to use the “go to range” feature and how to use the keyboard shortcut. Ready? Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
Jump to Cells Using the ‘Go To Range’ Option
In Google Sheets, there is a way to simply type the cell reference (or the range reference or row/column number) and quickly jump to it. This can be done using the ‘Go To Range’ feature in Google Sheets.
But the issue is that you will not be able to find it anywhere in the existing options. Let me show you two ways to get the ‘Go To Range’ option and then use it to jump to any cell/range in Google Sheets. Read on for my guide, or check out the video further down to watch me explain.
Using Help to Find ‘Go To Range’
Let’s say you want to quickly go to cell A1 in Google Sheets. Below are the steps to get the ‘Go To Range’ search box and jump to cell A1:
- Open the Google Sheets document
- Click on the Help option in the menu
- In the search bar that appears, type – ‘Go To Range’.
- Click on the Go To Range option. This will open the Go to search box at the top-right part of the Google Sheets worksheet.
- In the search box, enter A1
- Hit the Enter key.
The above steps would take you to cell instantly. But what if you want to go to a range? I often want to get to a specific part of my data set, and for that I use the same process. Basically, you can follow the same steps to jump to any specific range or row/column.
Here’s how to do that.
- To jump to a specific range (let’s say A1:A100), enter A:A100 in the search box
- To jump to a specific row (let’s say the second row), enter 2:2 in the search box
- To jump to a specific column (let’s say the B column), enter B:B in the search box
You can also create a named range and then jump to that named range by typing the name in the Go To search box. For example, if you have created a defined named range with the name Data, simply enter Data in the search box and hit enter.
Using Keyboard Shortcut (F5)
You know I love keyboard shortcuts. They save me so much time throughout the work week. You can use one for this, too. The shortcut for the “go to range” feature is F5. But you’ll need to make one quick update before you use it.
If you try to use it immediately, F5 will simply refresh the worksheet. To make sure it opens the ‘Go To range’ search box, you need to first enable the compatible spreadsheets shortcuts. I’m including how to do that with screenshots here.
Below are the steps to enable the F5 shortcut for Go to Range:
- Open the Google Sheets document
- Click on the Help option in the menu
- Click on Keyboard Shortcuts
- In the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box, enable the ‘Enable compatible spreadsheet shortcuts’ option
Now if you want to jump to a specific cell or row/column, simply hit the F5 key. This will show the ‘Go To range’ search box, and you can enter the cell reference (range reference here)
Note: When you enable compatible spreadsheet shortcuts, you may be able to use some of the keyboard shortcuts that are also available in other popular spreadsheet tools such as MS Excel.
Want to see this in action? I made this video to show the process. In it, I show you how I jump to a specific cell.
Creating Links to Jump to Cell/Range in the Same Sheet
You can also create links to a specific cell or range (even entire row or column). This is useful when you want to give the user the ability to click on a text string in a cell and jump to a specific cell or range. You can also use the same method to create the Table of Contents links.
Here is a step-by-step process to create a link and jump to specific cells:
- Select the cell where you want insert the link
- Right-click on the cell
- Click on Insert Link (you you can use the keyboard shortcut Control + K)
- In the dialog box that opens, enter the text that you want to show in the cell
- Click on the Link field. You will notice that it shows a few options. You can link to any sheet in the document, any named ranges, or to a specific cell/range.
- Click on ‘Select a range of cells to link’.
- Enter the cell reference or the range reference.
- Click OK.
The above steps would add the specified text in the cell you selected and when you click on it, it will jump to the cell/range you mentioned in Step 7.
Creating Links to Jump to Cell/Range in the Other Sheet
The above two methods will allow you to jump to a cell or range in the same sheet. But what if you want to jump to a specific cell/range in some other sheet?
You can do that as well (quite easily). Suppose you have two sheets – Sheet1 and Sheet2, and you want to jump to cell A1 in Sheet2, when you’re in Sheet1. You can create a link in a cell, and when you click on that link, it will take you to cell A1 in Sheet2.
Below are the steps to click and jump to a cell/range in another sheet in Google Sheets:
- Open Sheet2 (i.e, the sheet where you want to come)
- Select the cell/range to which you want to jump to (when you’re in Sheet1)
- Right-click and then click on ‘Get link to this cell/range’ option. This will copy the link to cell/range in the clipboard
- Go to Sheet1 and select the cell where you want to create the hyperlink. This would be the link that, when clicked, will take to cell A1 in Sheet2
- Right-click and the click on Insert Link (or use the keyboard shortcut Control + K)
- In the dialog box that opens, paste the link and enter the text that you want to appear in cell.
- Click on Apply
That’s it!
Now when you click on the cell in Sheet1 (where you added in the link in Step 5 and 6), it will take you to cell A1 in Sheet2.
Conclusion
Just like there’s a CTRL + F in most programs to quickly find a term, there’s an easy way to quickly jump to a specific cell in Google Sheets. I showed you two easy ways to do it. The second way is my favorite. While it requires a tiny bit of setup, it removes the need for my mouse completely. I’m able to easily jump to any spot in my spreadsheet. I hope you found this tutorial useful. Please let me know if you have any questions or advice in the comments!
You may also like the following Google Sheets tutorials:
19 thoughts on “The Easiest Way to Jump to a Cell or Range in Google Sheets”
I never imagined it was as simple as right-clicking on the cell and generating the link. Thanks so much!
Great Thanks for go-links between sheets
Thanks a ton!!!! You have been of great help. Very good video, to the point, well explained, enough examples. Thank you!
Is there an easy way to jump by simply clicking on a link, without having to first click the start cell and then as a second action click on the revealed link? I know it’s possible to install controls like pushbuttons, but that is far too complicated.
No problem Bruce! To jump to a specific cell without having to first click the start cell, right-click on the cell you want to link, select “Insert link,” and enter the cell reference in the format #gid=0&range=A1 where “0” is the sheet index and “A1” is the cell reference. Once the hyperlink is created, clicking on it will take you directly to the linked cell without the need for an intermediate step.
Is there any way to link to a named cell or range that sticks if rows are added above the target cell/range? It seems there is a way in excel but have had no luck in sheets.
How do I jump to a cell that contains today’s date?
I have the same question. Did you get an answer already?
Is there a way to jump to a cell similar to the Excel “Ctrl + [” shortcut in google sheets?
For me I need to create a link to a cell or cell range for the active sheet, so that if I copy the sheet the link will be valid for both the original sheet and new/duplicate sheet.
I cannot find a way to reference a cell that will be valid for the active sheet only, as no matter what I do the link contains the sheet name, so when I copy the sheet, the new sheet still links back to cell ranges from the old sheet. Is there a way just to have your link take you to cell A2 of current sheet and not have it hard-coded to Sheet1!A2 even if I copy it and it becomes Sheet2?
How do you jump to a cell/range based on a calculated value. For example, let’s say I have fields with today’s day-of-the-month. (eg. 1,2,3,4,5…) in rows going down the table. I’d love to be able to go to, say, the value of =address(day(today()),1).
To quickly jump to a cell in Google Sheets based on today’s day-of-the-month, use the formula:
=HYPERLINK("#gid=0&range=" & ADDRESS(TODAY(), 1), "Go to Today's Cell")
This formula creates a clickable link that, when selected, will take you to the cell in the first column corresponding to today’s date. Customize the link text within the quotes as needed. If you’re not on the first sheet, replace 0 with the actual sheet index.
Hello!
Thank you for the tips.
I use Google Sheets to make dynamic documents and export them as PDF.
I want to make a “Table of Contents” and make the Articles clickable links to jump to the clicked page/article.
How can I do that?
For now, if I make a hyperlink it jumps there but if I export the sheet as a document, from the exported PDF the links are referring to the sheet itself, not the PDF at the choosed topic. It is quite obvious it does this, since I got the link of the cell that contains the topic.
Thank you in advance!
Hi, we have a full guide on building a table of contents here https://spreadsheetpoint.com/table-of-contents-google-sheets/
Hi,
Thank you for the detailed explanation.
I wanted to go to a specific count in a particular column. Let’s say my col. A has 150 rows with data, and when I apply a filter with a particular condition – the total rows now are 120. Is there a way if I can go to the 75th row count from the top (when the filter is applied)?
Thanks in advance.
BR,
Arun
If you applied a filter in Google Sheets based on a condition in column A and want to jump to the 75th row meeting that condition, use a helper column (e.g., B) with a formula like =IF(YourCondition, ROW(), “”). Drag it down, then use =INDEX(FILTER(A:A, B:B <> “”), 75) to get the value in the 75th row. This dynamically adapts to changes in your filtered data while considering your specified condition. Replace YourCondition with the actual condition, and adjust column references as needed.
Nice info, thank you
Hi, I would to know how can you jump to the next A “BLANK” cell? Assuming I have like 800 rows already filled in on column A?
If you hold down the control button, then click an arrow, it will take you to the last cell before an empty cell. I hope this helps!