⌥For Excel on macOS

Alt H O I. On a Mac.

AutoFit column width

acceler8 brings the Windows Alt sequences to Excel for Mac. Tap Option, type the letters you already know, and the column autofits, the cells merge, the filter turns on. Every sequence lives in one file you can edit.

Download for macOS Free for 7 days, then $14.99 once
Built for
Excel for Mac 16.89 and later Windows keyboard habits macOS 14 Sonoma and later People who change the defaults
The letters you know

Same sequence, both machines.

Excel for Mac has KeyTips of its own, but the letters follow the Mac ribbon and disagree with Windows. acceler8 keeps the Windows letters as the contract, so H O I autofits at work and at home.

⌥ Tap Option on its ownThe same gesture as Alt on Windows. Option held with another key is an ordinary Mac shortcut and passes straight through.
H Type the lettersThey are swallowed, so Excel never sees a stray å. The menu bar shows what you have typed so far. Escape backs out.
✓ The command runsMost sequences drive Excel through its own scripting dictionary, which has not changed in a decade, so a ribbon redesign changes nothing.
⌥HOIAutoFit column widthapplescript
⌥HMCMerge and centerapplescript
⌥HVVPaste valuesapplescript
⌥ATToggle AutoFilterapplescript
⌥HBAAll bordersapplescript
⌥WFFFreeze panesapplescript
⌥HVSPaste Special dialogkeystroke
⌥WVGToggle gridlineskeytips
⌥AVVData Validationmenu

Nine of the 32 sequences that ship. The full list is in the mappings file, and it is yours to change.

How it works

A menu bar app, not an add-in.

acceler8 watches the keyboard only while Excel is in front. Nothing is installed into Excel, nothing phones home, and there is no account.

~/Library/Logs/acceler8.log
$ open ~/Applications/acceler8.app
✓ launch 1.0, trial: 7 days left
✓ accessibility granted, tap installed, 32 sequences
✓ automation for Microsoft Excel granted
⌥ armed: Option tapped in Excel
● H O I AutoFit column width (applescript)
applescript19 of 32
Excel's own dictionary
stable since 2011 · survives ribbon changes
keystroke · keytips · menu13 of 32
For what the dictionary cannot reach
native shortcuts, Excel's KeyTips, a menu path
Your mappings

One file. Every sequence.

Nothing about a sequence is compiled in. The letters, a name and an action live in mappings.json, and the app reloads the moment you save. A file that does not parse keeps the last good mapping and says so in the menu.

  • Add a sequence for a macro you run ten times a day
  • Rename H O I to whatever your fingers expect
  • Four action kinds: applescript, keystroke, keytips, menu
  • Edit mappings.json is one click in the menu bar
{ "keys": "H O I", "name": "AutoFit column width", "action": { "kind": "applescript", "script": "autofit (entire column of selection)" } } { "keys": "H V S", "name": "Paste Special dialog", "action": { "kind": "keystroke", "key": "v", "modifiers": ["command", "control"] } } { "keys": "W V G", "name": "Toggle gridlines", "action": { "kind": "keytips", "keys": "W V G" } } // ~/Library/Application Support/acceler8/mappings.json
Why acceler8

Your hands know Alt H O I. Your Mac does not.

Years of Excel on Windows put the ribbon in your fingers. Switch to a Mac and every one of those sequences turns into a trip to the mouse. acceler8 gives the sequences back.

Excel for Mac, out of the box
Reach for the mouse to autofit a columnhourly
Hunt the ribbon for Merge and Centerdaily
Learn a second set of KeyTip lettersnever
Keep a cheat sheet of Cmd shortcutstaped up
With acceler8
⌥ H O I⌥
  • The Windows letters, on the Mac
  • 32 sequences ready, all of them editable
  • Option with a key stays an Excel shortcut
  • Runs only while Excel is in front
  • Notarized by Apple, no admin needed
  • Updates itself
No account, nothing phones home
Built to stay out of the way

Small enough to forget it is running

acceler8 sits in the menu bar and does nothing until Excel is in front and you tap Option. Then it does one thing and gets out of the way.

32
Sequences out of the box, across Home, Insert, Formulas, Data, View and Page Layout. Nineteen run through Excel's scripting dictionary, which does not change when the ribbon does.
⌥The bare Option tap is ours. Everything else passes through. Option Return, Option Down and the rest keep working exactly as Excel meant them.
From the acceler8 design decisions
0
Add-ins, plug-ins or changes inside Excel
1.5s
To type the next letter when a shorter sequence also matches. Adjustable.
Offline
Your license is checked on your Mac. Nothing is sent anywhere to decide whether it runs.
No admin
Installs to ~/Applications on a managed work Mac. One key covers every Mac you use.
Get acceler8

Free for 7 days, then $14.99 once

No subscription, no account. Buy a license once and use it on every Mac you own, at work and at home.

Trial
Seven days, everything on

Every sequence, the mappings file and updates, from the first launch. No card, no account.

  • All 32 sequences
  • Edit and add your own
  • Nothing to cancel
Download the trial
Direct · notarized
acceler8 license

Signed with Developer ID, notarized and stapled, so Gatekeeper opens it without a warning. Paid once, yours for good.

  • One key, every Mac you use
  • Every update, no subscription
  • Installs to ~/Applications without admin
  • Key emailed at checkout, recoverable any time
Download for macOS Buy a license · $14.99
Notarized by AppleNo account
Homebrew
Cask

For Macs you set up from a Brewfile. The same notarized build as the direct download.

  • Same build as direct download
  • Scriptable for new machines
  • Updates itself, or with brew upgrade
brew tap japoeder/i8l brew install --cask acceler8
The tap on GitHub
⌥

Put Alt back under your thumb.

Download acceler8, open a workbook, tap Option and type H O I.

Download for macOS Free for 7 days, then $14.99 once