When working in an Excel spreadsheet, the most effective technique for navigating between cells is to use the keys on your Keyboard. Being that these keys are available in both directions implies that you may swiftly go from one cell to another by pressing only one key. Occasionally, specific keyboard shortcuts may not work correctly in Excel.
In some instances, they may take you to the following worksheet rather than the next cell in the line, contrary to what you would anticipate. As soon as you notice this behavior, you’ll undoubtedly want to figure out what’s wrong and how to make things better right away.
The answer to the problem of the keys not working in Excel is much more straightforward than you may expect to find. A single keystroke is all it takes to have the keys do what they’re designed to do in most situations. The problem with not working in Excel may occur at any time, whether you’re in the middle of updating a spreadsheet or navigating between numerous sheets of information.
Finding the source of your problem is becoming increasingly challenging due to this.
Cause of Keyboard Not Working in Excel
The most common reason for the inability of the keys to operate in Excel is because the scroll lock has been engaged on the spreadsheet. While you utilize the Scroll Lock function, you may find it particularly frustrating if your Keyboard does not have a Scroll Lock key or if the key does not glow when the feature is being used. A variety of additional challenges may occur due to the inability of the keys to function correctly in Excel, further compounding the matter. So the most effective approach is first to identify whether or not the scroll lock is enabled, and if it isn’t, move on to the next troubleshooting stage in the process.
How to Fix Keyboard Not Working in Excel
The keyboard is the most suitable device for input in excel. So, any problem related to the keyboard shouldn’t be sacrificed if you are using excel on a regular basis.
Here are the steps to fix keyboard not working in excel:
Use The On-Screen Keyboard To Turn Off Scroll Lock
Using a modern computer with an equally modern keyboard, you may have noticed that there is no scroll lock button on your Keyboard. This is because the scroll lock button is no longer available. It’s because most current technology has done away with that button on the assumption that most users will never use it.
On the other hand, Windows provides an on-screen keyboard that allows you to access keys that are not present on your physical Keyboard. When your genuine Keyboard becomes damaged or ceases to operate correctly, you may use this alternative Keyboard.
- You may disable the scroll lock by pressing the Enter key on the on-screen keyboard.
- The on-Screen Keyboard may be found and launched by searching for it in the Start Menu. It should be able to be opened.
There are many lock keys located on the right-hand side of the Keyboard. There will be a key labeled ScrLk that will allow you to enable and disable scroll lock on your PC as needed. If you click on it, it will turn off the scroll lock if it was previously turned on.
Use An AppleScript On Mac
When it comes to Mac keyboards, the scroll lock button is frequently absent, which means removing the function will be a difficult chore for you if you are using a Mac. There is, however, a solution that makes use of an AppleScript to allow you to correct the problem in Excel on your Mac. The fix involves creating an AppleScript and executing it whenever you use Excel on your computer.
It then ensures that the keys function correctly in the Excel software. Although creating and executing an AppleScript may appear to be complicated, it is rather simple.
- Open TextEdit by selecting it from the Launchpad menu and selecting it from the search results.
- To create a new document, go to the File menu at the top of the screen and pick New.
- Copy and paste the code from the following page into your document.
- Return items to (display dialog Press OK to send scroll lock keypress to Microsoft Excel or press Quit with the title Excel Scroll-lock Fix buttons Quit and OK, default button 2), set returned items to (display dialog Press OK to send scroll lock keypress to Microsoft Excel or press Quit with title Excel Scroll-lock Fix buttons Quit and OK, default button 2)
assign the buttonPressed property to the button returned of the returnedItems collection
If the button is pressed and the result is OK,
tell the application Microsoft Excel to start and tell it to stop
tell the program System Events to use the key code 107 by pressing the shift down’ key end tell
activate
In the Mac Excel Scroll-lock Fix dialog box with the headline Scroll Lock key transmitted to Microsoft Excel, buttons OK and Cancel are displayed if the condition is met
- To save the file, press the Command + S keys simultaneously.
- Save the file with the name FixExcelKeys.Applescript in the name field of the Finder.
- Excel will open and display your spreadsheet.
- Double-click on the newly produced AppleScript file, and the problem should be resolved automatically.
Disable the Scroll Lock function on your computer
The scroll lock option on your computer may have been activated, which is one of the most common reasons your Excel keys are not functioning correctly. When it is active, the keys will be unable to accomplish the functions that they were designed to do. The light next to the scroll lock button has been turned on if you look at your Keyboard.
If you see this notice, it signifies that the lock has been enabled and that you must turn it off to use the keys again. If the keys in Excel are not functioning correctly on your computer due to the reasons listed above, you need to hit one key to remedy the problem. It’s as simple as pressing the scroll lock button on your keyboard to turn off the security feature.
After completing this step, you should see that the scroll lock light on your Keyboard is no longer glowing on your Keyboard.
Enable Sticky Keys
In the great majority of cases, the options given above will address your problem with the keys not working in Excel. It’s conceivable that you didn’t have any luck with them, in which case you could want to try a couple more to see if they can aid you in resolving the issue. The solutions listed above will fix your keys not functioning in Excel problems in most situations.
Sometimes you can have bad luck with them, in which case you could want to try another few and see if they assist you in fixing the problem. One of these approaches is to use the sticky keys function on your Windows PC, which can be found here. While it isn’t directly connected to Excel or the keys, it is worth trying to toggle it to see if it resolves the problem for yourself.
- Cortana may be used to find the Control Panel, which can then be launched.
- Please navigate to the Ease of Access Center by clicking on it.
- To make the Keyboard simpler to use, choose to Make the Keyboard easier to use.
- Turn on Sticky Keys by selecting the Turn on Sticky Keys option and clicking on OK.
Disable Add-Ins
However, while the use of add-ins helps you to get more out of Excel, they can also pose problems at times. Alternatively, if you have any additional add-ins installed, you may decide to turn them off and see if the keys begin to operate correctly after that point. Turning off add-ins in the Microsoft Excel product is a relatively straightforward process.
- Excel should be open on your computer at this point.
- After clicking on the File menu at the top of the screen, go to the Options menu on the left-hand side of the screen.
- To view the settings for your Excel add-ins, pick Add-ins from the left-hand sidebar and then Options.
- It is possible to find Excel Add-ins by selecting them from the dropdown menu, accessed by tapping the Go button.
- Select all of the add-ins and click on the OK button to confirm your selection.
- Ensure that you follow the steps indicated above for each option in the dropdown menu to verify that all of your add-ins have been turned off.
Alternatively, if all of the cells in the sheet you’re looking at are contained within a set of columns or rows that you’ve frozen, it may appear as though the keys have stopped working in Microsoft Excel. This isn’t the case, however. For those who don’t want to bother with unfreezing those panes, you could also try zooming out the magnification in Excel so that you can move your cursor around a region of the spreadsheet that hasn’t been frozen yet.
Because the screen is frequently more significant than the size of the frozen pane, it is less probable that you will face this problem while using Excel on a larger screen. The keys will not work in Excel since these can take a long time to process and will prohibit you from navigating around the spreadsheet. A protected workbook or worksheet will not allow you to pick cells or navigate through them when opened in Microsoft Office 2013.
First, unprotect the document and then reprotect it to use the keys. After that, you may reprotect it when you’re through. We hope that your problem with the Keyboard not working in Excel has been fixed.
FAQ
Why won’t my keyboard work with Excel?
Scroll Lock should be turned off. Turning off your scroll lock is the most popular solution for not being able to utilize the keys in Excel when you need to. When the Keyboard’s scroll lock is activated, you will be unable to navigate around Excel using the keys. Keep an eye out for a light on the scroll lock button on your Keyboard.
How do you unlock the Keyboard in Excel?
If you don’t have a Scroll Lock Key on your Keyboard, go to Start > Settings > Ease of Access > Keyboard to enable one. To enable the On-Screen Keyboard, click on it. When the On-Screen Keyboard displays, press the Scroll Lock (ScrLk) Button to lock the screen.