What Is Home Key?

Do you know, a home is where the heart is, and it's also the place where your cursor gets to rest. When you're writing a letter, working on a spreadsheet, or just trying to get back to the beginning of a line—that's where you want your cursor to be. And if you're on a virtual keyboard, it is! It may seem simple, but the humble Home key can be much more than that. It's been around for decades and has survived all kinds of changes in technology and software. The Home key is the constant in our world—the one thing we know will always be there when we need it most. The Home key does one thing well: return your cursor to the beginning of whatever you're doing. It supports most operating systems but not all applications, so if you're using an older version of Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, check out our complete list of compatible apps! The Home key is your friend. You use it when you want to go home or to the beginning of a line in a word processing program. It helps you find your way back to the beginning of a document or page or your life, for that matter. The End key is its opposite: it takes you further away from where you are—just like going "end" of your street or the "end" of the world. The Home key is the key you press to return to the beginning of a document or the front of the current line. If your keyboard doesn't have a Home key, it's not a big deal: hold down the function key and left arrow key simultaneously. If you're using an operating system like Microsoft or Linux and can't edit a document, try holding down the Home key instead of scrolling with your mouse—it'll get you back to where it all started!