Arrow Keys Not Working in Excel – 4 Easy Fixes

Note: This troubleshooting guide on the “Arrow keys not working in Excel” problem is suitable for all Excel versions including Office 365.

Arrow keys have become an integral part of our day to day work involving computers. All the more so in Excel spreadsheets. The arrow keys help you easily navigate and scroll through thousands of rows and columns at a button’s press. But, sometimes they might suddenly stop working altogether. And, fixing it can become very frustrating if you don’t know what you are dealing with.

In this short Excel troubleshooting guide, I’ll walk you through four easy fixes you can use to resolve the “arrow keys not working in Excel” issue. 

You’ll learn:

• Fix 1 – Disable Scroll Lock
• Fix 2 – Switch on Sticky Keys
• Fix 3 – Deactivate Excel Add-Ins
• Fix 4 – Reboot the PC

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Fix 1 – Disable Scroll Lock

The “arrow keys not working in Excel” problem sometimes occurs if the Scroll lock is switched on. You can easily solve this by switching off the scroll lock feature on your keyboard. 

• If you are using a Mac, save the following code as an AppleScript file using TextEdit and run it when using Excel.

set returnedItems to (display dialog "Press OK to send scroll lock keypress to Microsoft Excel or press Quit" with title "Excel Scroll-lock Fix" buttons {"Quit", "OK"} default button 2)

set buttonPressed to the button returned of returnedItems

if buttonPressed is "OK" then

tell application "Microsoft Excel"
activate
end tell

tell application "System Events"
key code 107 using {shift down}
end tell

activate

display dialog "Scroll Lock key sent to Microsoft Excel" with title "Mac Excel Scroll-lock Fix" buttons {"OK"}

end if

Remember to name the file as FixExcelKeys.applescript. Now, open any Excel spreadsheet and run this Applescript file by double-clicking on it. This will fix the arrow keys not working in Excel issue.

• In Windows, simply press the Scroll Lock key on your physical keyboard to turn it off. 

In case the physical key is not available in your keyboard, open the on-screen keyboard using the shortcut Windows + Ctrl + O and click on the Scroll Lock option to turn it off. 

• Another often ignored possible trouble maker is the Excel’s built-in Scroll Lock feature. Make sure that it is switched off by right-clicking on your Excel window’s status bar. Then, ensure that the Scroll Lock option is set to Off in the right-click menu.

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Fix 2 – Switch On Sticky Keys

A small caveat : This solution is purely based on trial and error, so it may not always work. 

To switch on sticky keys in your PC, follow these steps:

1. Open the Control Panel ( Shortcut: Press Windows + R, Type Control , Press Enter) and go to the Ease of Access centre. 

2. Now, click on the Make the Keyboard Easier to Use or Change how your Keyboard works option. Please note that, depending on your OS version, the option names may vary.  

3. Enable the Turn on Sticky keys option and click OK. 

You can skip these steps, by simply pressing the shift key repeatedly for five times. Just remember to click ‘Yes’ when prompted. 

Once, you have turned on sticky keys, go to Excel and check if the arrow keys are working. 

Fix 3 – Deactivate Excel Add-Ins

Excel add-ins, like the solver and data analysis add-ins are immensely helpful in solving complex problems in Excel. But, they can sometimes occupy too much RAM and processing power and even create certain conflicts in Excel. 

Try disabling these add-ins, to see if that fixes the arrow keys not working in Excel. 

To do this, open the Options menu under the File tab. 

Under the add-ins section, click on the Go button next to the Manage Excel Add-ins option. 

Finally, deselect all the add-ins and click OK. 

Fix 4 – Reboot the PC

If all the above methods fail, as the last resort – you can now reboot your computer to fix the arrows keys not working issue. More often than not, rebooting solves such issues. But, be careful and save all your files before you hit the reboot button.

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Let’s Wrap-up

We hope you found this troubleshooting guide helpful. Did you use any of these methods to solve the problem? Please let us know in the comments section below. 

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Simon Calder

Chris “Simon” Calder was working as a Project Manager in IT for one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious cultural institutions, LACMA.He taught himself to use Microsoft Project from a giant textbook and hated every moment of it. Online learning was in its infancy then, but he spotted an opportunity and made an online MS Project course - the rest, as they say, is history!