When working with an Excel spreadsheet, the best way to move between cells is to use the arrow keys on your keyboard. With these keys available for each direction, you can easily move from one cell to another with a single keystroke.
Sometimes it happens that these arrow keys do not work in Excel. In some cases, they even go to the next sheet instead of going to the next cell in the row. If you are frustrated with this behavior, you probably want to know how to fix it.
Fixing broken arrow keys in Excel is actually easier than you might think. In most cases, you only need one keystroke to get the keys to do what they are supposed to do.
Disable Scroll Lock
One of the common reasons the arrow keys don’t work in Excel is because you have enabled the scroll lock feature on your computer. As long as it stays on, the keys won’t do what they should.
If you look at the keyboard, you will find that the scroll lock button light is on. This means that the lock is on and you need to turn it off in order to activate the arrow keys.
If the above reason is the cause of the arrow keys not working in Excel on your computer, you can fix it with a simple keystroke.
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- Just press the scroll lock button on your keyboard and the lock will be disabled.
- You should find that the scroll lock indicator no longer lights up on your keyboard.
Use the on-screen keyboard to disable Scroll Lock
If you are using a modern computer with an equally modern keyboard, you may notice that the keyboard does not have a scroll lock button. This is because most modern devices no longer use this button, as most users simply won’t use it.
However, Windows has an onscreen keyboard to help you use keys that your real keyboard doesn’t have. You can also use it in cases where your real keyboard is broken or just doesn’t work well.
You can use this onscreen keyboard to disable scroll lock.
- Open the Start menu, locate and launch On-Screen Keyboard. It should open up.
- On the right side of the keyboard, you will find all the lock keys. There will be a ScrLk key that will help you toggle scroll lock on and off on your PC. Click on it and it will disable the scroll lock if it was enabled before.
Fix arrow keys not working with AppleScript on Mac
Mac keyboards usually don’t have a scroll lock button, so disabling this feature is a tricky task for you if you’re a Mac user. However, there is a workaround that uses AppleScript to fix the problem in Excel on your Mac.
The workaround generates AppleScript and runs it when you use Excel on your computer. Then he does what he needs to make the arrow keys work in Excel.
Creating AppleScript and executing it may seem a little technical, but it’s actually quite simple to do.
- Click Launchpad, find TextEdit and open it.
- Click the File menu at the top and select New to create a new document.
- Copy the following code and paste it into your document.
set ReturnItems to (display the “Click OK to Send Scroll Lock Key Press to Microsoft Excel” dialog box, or click Exit “with the heading” Excel Scroll-lock Fix “buttons {” Quit “,” OK “} default button 2)
set buttonPressed to the button returned from returned elements
if buttonPressed is” OK “then
application “Microsoft Excel”
activate
end say
inform “System Events” application
keycode 107 using {shift down}
end of message <
Activate
Display the “Scroll Lock Key Sent to Microsoft Excel” dialog box with the heading “Mac Excel Fixed Scroll Lock” {OK} Button}
end if
- Press Command + S to save the file.
- Enter FixExcelKeys.applescript as the filename and save it.
- Start a spreadsheet in Excel.
- Double-click the AppleScript file you just created and that should fix the problem for you.
Enable Sticky Keys
In most cases, the above methods should fix the arrow issues not working in Excel. However, if you are unlucky with them, you can try a few more and see if they help fix the problem.
One of these ways is to turn on Sticky Keys on your Windows computer. While it’s not directly related to Excel or the arrow keys, it’s worth toggling it to see if it solves the problem for you.
- Search for Control Panel by searching for Cortana and launch it.
- Click Ease of Access Center.
- Click Make the keyboard easier to use.
- Turn on the Turn on Sticky Keys option and click OK.
Disable Add-ons
Add-ins help you get more out of Excel, but sometimes they can also cause conflicts. If you have any add-ons installed, you can disable them and see if the arrow keys start working.
Disabling add-ins in Excel is easy.
- Start Excel on your computer.
- Click the File menu at the top and select Options on the left. side panel.
- Click Add-Ins in the left sidebar to view the Excel add-in settings.
- Select Excel Add-ins from the drop-down menu and click Go.
- Deselect all add-ins and click OK.
- Follow the steps above for each option in the drop-down menu so that all your add-ins are disabled.
We hope your arrow keys not working in Excel are now resolved. And if so, we would like to know which method worked for you. Let us know in the comments below.
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