How to use TAB without taking autofill suggestion

Question

How to use TAB without taking autofill suggestion

Zack 20

Hello,

I am hoping to find a way to use the TAB key to enter the next cell of a program without it taking the autocomplete suggestion. I don't want to disable autocomplete entirely, merely use a keybind to have TAB act as normal instead of always taking the autocomplete suggestion.

Similar to how using shift+tab will tab backwards, is there a way to tab over without taking the autocomplete suggestion and without disabling autocomplete altogether?

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Answer 1

Hi @Zack ,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum!

In programs like Microsoft Excel and Word, pressing the Tab key or Enter key automatically accepts the currently active AutoComplete or ghost-text suggestion and commits it to the cell. While there is no dedicated alternative keybinding specifically hardcoded to "Tab over without accepting", you can bypass the suggestion without turning off AutoComplete using the following methods:

The quickest standard shortcut is to press Escape (Esc), then press Tab. When an AutoComplete suggestion or ghost text appears, pressing Esc dismisses the suggested text while keeping what you manually typed, and pressing Tab immediately moves you to the adjacent cell.

Alternatively, pressing the Delete or Backspace key when the trailing suggestion is highlighted will remove the suggested completion, allowing you to hit Tab or an arrow key to exit the cell with only your typed value.

If you are using Excel specifically and want to prevent automated text completion in repetitive data entry columns without constantly dismissing popups, you can also use an apostrophe (') prefix before your text, or toggle AutoComplete temporarily under File > Options > Advanced > Editing Options > "Enable AutoComplete for cell values".

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