What is causing the arrow keys to stop working on Excel?
We investigated this particular issue by looking at various user reports and the repair strategies that are commonly being used to fix this behavior. As it turns out, there are several different potential culprits that might trigger this odd behavior: If you’re currently experiencing this issue and you’re looking for a fix that will allow you to revert back to the default behavior, this article will provide you with several troubleshooting steps. In the section below, you’ll find a collection of methods that other users in a similar situation have successfully used to fix the problem. To remain as efficient as possible, we encourage you to follow the methods in the order that they are presented since they are ordered by efficiency and severity. Eventually, one of the fixes should resolve the issue regardless of the culprit that is causing the issue.
Method 1: Disabling Scroll Lock Key via On-Screen keyboard
If the whole worksheet is moving when you press one of the arrow keys instead of moving from cell to cell, chances are that the culprit for this behavior is the Scroll Lock Key. You probably don’t have a Scroll Lock key on your keyboard since the majority of manufacturers no longer include it on newer models, but you might have enabled it by using an FN combination. If this scenario is applicable to your current situation, you can resolve the issue easily by using the on-screen keyboard to turn the Scroll Lock key back off. Here’s a quick guide on how to do this: If you’re still experiencing the same behaviour, move down to the next method below.
Method 2: Cycling through the state of the Sticky keys
As multiple users have reported, this issue can also occur if the Sticky Keys feature glitches and become stuck in a limbo state. As it turns out, this ends up confusing Excel into believing that Screen Lock is enabled even when it’s not. If you think this scenario might be applicable to your current situation, you will be able to resolve the issue by temporarily disabling the Sticky keys feature before turning off again. After doing so, the arrow key should start functioning properly. Here’s a quick guide on how to do this: If the issue is still persisting, move down to the next method below.
Method 3: Disabling suspicious Add-ins
Another potential scenario in which this error will occur is a suspicious add-in that is currently active on Excel or an add-in conflict that ends up producing this issue. Several users struggling to resolve this exact problem have reported that they managed to fix it by disabling all add-ins and then systematically re-enabling them until they managed to identify the culprit. Here’s a quick guide on how to do this:
Fix: Arrow Keys not WorkingFix: WASD and Arrow Keys are SwitchedFix: Excel Formulas not workingFix: Function keys not working
