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Install and set up

  1. Download LightningXL

    Use the Download Now button at the top of this page. The file is named something like LightningXL-1.0.0.dmg.

  2. Drag it into Applications

    Double-click the .dmg. In the window that opens, drag the LightningXL icon onto the Applications folder beside it. Run it from Applications rather than from the disk image, so that a later version can be dragged over it.

    Screenshot: the .dmg window, LightningXL beside Applications

  3. Open LightningXL and start your trial

    Open it from Applications. There is no window in the Dock: LightningXL is a menu bar app, so look for the ⚡ bolt at the top right of the screen. The Setup Assistant opens by itself the first time.

    Choose Start 7-Day Free Trial, or paste the licence key from your receipt. The receipt also has an Activate button that opens LightningXL with the key already filled in. One key activates one Mac.

  4. Allow Accessibility

    This is the permission that lets LightningXL read the ribbon and press its buttons. macOS asks at first launch. If you miss the dialog, click Open Accessibility Settings in the Setup Assistant and turn LightningXL on:

    System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility › LightningXL

    Come back to the assistant. The Accessibility row turns green as soon as the switch is on.

    Screenshot: the Accessibility list with LightningXL switched on

  5. Install in Office

    Click Install in Office. One button does the lot: the add-in that carries the modeling shortcuts, formula tracing and the Share, Names and Settings windows goes into Excel, and the Refresh buttons go into PowerPoint and Word.

    LightningXL opens each app to put the files in place, so macOS asks two things per app. Click OK to both: whether LightningXL may control the app, and whether it may access data from other apps. The second one guards Office's own folder, which is where the add-in files live.

    Each app's row turns green when its file is in place. If you would rather do it by hand, the Excel half is Excel › Tools › Excel Add-ins… › tick LightningXLMac.

    Screenshot: the Setup Assistant with every row green

  6. Tap ⌥ and go

    Open Excel and tap the Option (⌥) key once on its own. The ribbon tabs show their letters. Type one to enter a tab, then the letter of the control you want. Try ⌥ H O I to AutoFit a column, exactly as on Windows.

LightningXL adds itself as a login item on first start, so the key tips are there after a restart. The switch in the Setup Assistant turns that off. You can reopen the assistant at any time from the menu bar: ⚡ › Setup Assistant…

Things worth knowing

  • Keep the window wide. LightningXL has to see a button to press it. A narrow window collapses ribbon groups into menus, and while it still works, some letters move.
  • Office must be in English. The key maps follow the English ribbon, the same one the Windows shortcuts are built on.
  • macOS 13 Ventura or later, on Apple silicon or Intel, with the Microsoft 365 versions of Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
  • Updates. LightningXL looks for a new version once a day and shows Update to … Available… in its menu when there is one; ⚡ › Check for Updates… looks right away. Download the new disk image, quit LightningXL, drag the new copy over the old one in Applications and open it again. The add-ins it installs in Excel, PowerPoint and Word update themselves at that start.
  • Check your antivirus. Some security software blocks one app from sending keystrokes to another. If nothing happens when you tap ⌥, add LightningXL to its exclusion list.

Make Mac Excel behave more like Windows

All three are switches in the menu bar, off or on whenever you like.

  • Standard Function Keys in Excel. F2 edits a cell and F9 recalculates without holding Fn, and only while Excel is in front. Leave Excel and the keys go back to brightness and volume.
  • Control Arrow Navigation in Excel. ⌃ with an arrow jumps to the edge of the data region and ⌃⇧ selects out to it, the way Ctrl does on Windows. Off until you switch it on, since ⌃ arrows are Mission Control's until then.
  • Trigger Key. ⌥ by default, or ⌘ if that suits your hands better.

Permission issues after upgrading

If LightningXL worked before an update and the key tips stopped appearing, macOS is holding an Accessibility entry for the old copy. Removing the entry and granting it again fixes it.

  1. Remove the old entry

    Go to System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility, select LightningXL in the list, then click the minus (−) button to remove it.

    Remove it, do not just switch it off. The stale entry is the problem, so turning the switch off and on again leaves it in place.

  2. Grant it again

    Open LightningXL from Applications, then choose ⚡ › Troubleshooting › Open Accessibility Settings and switch LightningXL on. It appears in the list as a fresh entry.

  3. Restart LightningXL

    Choose ⚡ › Quit LightningXL and open it again from Applications. The permission only reaches a running app when it starts.

If the ribbon shows its letters but nothing happens when you type them, it is the other permission: System Settings › Privacy & Security › Automation › LightningXL. Switch Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint on there.

Still not working?

Email hello@lightningxl.com and we will help you sort it out.

It speeds things up if you choose ⚡ › Troubleshooting › Save Diagnostic Report… and attach the file, along with a screenshot of Excel after you tap ⌥.