Excel sheet is often lauded as one of the most utilitarian pieces of software. With the help of Excel, we can create spreadsheets, crunch numbers and prepare a business report. Generally, we press arrow keys to move from one cell to another. However, sometimes pressing arrow keys will move the entire worksheet.
Arrows keys not working in Excel
Are you frustrated that pressing the arrow key is moving the entire spreadsheet instead of a single cell? You are not alone. This is a very common occurrence, and in this article, we will tell you how to fix Arrow Keys not working in Microsoft Office. This particular error occurs due to unintended behavior of Scroll Key. Follow the methods below to fix the issue that is causing the Up, Down or Side arrow keys to stop working in Excel.
1] Disable Scroll Lock
You may not be able to use the up and down arrow keys due to the scroll lock key being turned on.
To know if the scroll lock key is turned on, look for a light on your keyboard’s scroll lock button.To disable the scroll lock button, press the scroll lock button.When the light is turned off, it means that the scroll lock button is disabled.
2] Use the on-screen keyboard to disable scroll lock
Disabling the Scroll Lock key was easy, but newer laptops don’t come with Scroll Lock. If your keyboard doesn’t come with a scroll key, you need to press “Fn” and disable the Scroll Lock. That apart you can also use the on-screen keyboard and turn off the Scroll Lock. The Scroll Lock status is displayed on the Excel sheet; this will help you to double-check. Additionally, you can use SHIFT+F14 to toggle the Scroll Lock to the Off Position.
Follow the steps below to bring up the on-screen keyboard:
Press the Windows KeyType on-screen keyboard and press Enter.
Observe the screenshot. The Scroll Lock is in On position since the “ScrLk” key is in blue. Click on the “ScrLk” key to turn off the Scroll Lock. Make sure that the key is not in blue. As we explained earlier, you can use the Scroll Lock indicator in the status bar. Meanwhile, you can also disable/enable the scroll key by using the feature on Microsoft Excel, as shown in the image. Read: Excel Cursor is stuck on white cross
3] Turn on the Sticky Key
Disable Scroll Lock didn’t work? Well, try this method. Many users have reported that the Arrow Keys issue on Excel is fixed by enabling the Sticky key. Follow the steps below to enable Sticky Key,
Type Control Panel in Start MenuClick on Control PanelSelect Turn On Sticky Keys option and click OKGo back and uncheck the Turn On Sticky Keys option
To enable the sticky keys on a Windows 11 computer, follow the steps below:
Type sticky key into the search barThe settings interface will open on Accessibility.Ensure that the option Keyboard shortcut for Sticky Keys is enabled.Press the Shift key five times quickly to enable the sticky keys.
4] Disable Excel Add-ins
The Add-ins may be the reason that the issue is occurring. To disable the Excel Add-ins follow the steps below:
Launch Excel.Click on the File tab.On the backstage view, click Options.An Excel Options dialog box.Click Add-ins on the left pane.On the right select Excel Add-ins from the drop-down list.Then click Go.Deselect all the add-ins and click OK.
We hope this tutorial helps you understand how to fix the issue of the up and arrow key not working in Excel. The malfunctioning Arrow keys on Excel should be fixed by now.
What are the Up and Down arrow keys on the keyboard?
Keys are one of the keyboard’s buttons. Letters, numbers, functions, and symbols are represented on a keyboard. The page up and down keys are predominantly used to scroll up and down in documents. Read: Arrow keys are not working in Windows 11/10
Why is my arrow key not working in Excel?
The Excel arrow keys may not work if you have enabled the scroll lock. Here are four suggestions that will help you resolve the issue.
How do you unlock the up arrow key in Excel?
Toggle the scroll lock on and off and see if that helps. If not, here are four other suggestions that will help you resolve the issue. The Arrow key not working is a pretty old Excel annoyance that crops up for users from time to time. I hope our step-by-step guide helped you fix the issue.
