Arrow Keys Not Working in Excel Though Scroll Lock Is Not On

We can move up/down or right/left in Excel using the 4 arrow keys on the keyboard. We can also perform those tasks by using the scroll bars of the Excel worksheet. But sometimes we see that arrow keys are not working in Excel though the Scroll Lock button is not enabled. No worries, we are going to discuss 4 solutions to this problem with proper illustrations.

Table of Contents hide

4 Possible Solutions for Arrow Keys Not Working in Excel Though Scroll Lock Is Not Enabled on Keyboard

1. Try Turning On Sticky Keys

2. Check Excel Status Bar If Scroll Lock Is Enabled There and Disable It

3. Diagnose Add-Ins and Disable the Problematic Ones

4. Check If Columns or Rows Are Freezed and Undo It

Conclusion

4 Possible Solutions for Arrow Keys Not Working in Excel Though Scroll Lock Is Not Enabled on Keyboard

We can see despite the Scroll Lock button being enabled, the arrow keys are not working in Excel. So, disabling the Scroll Lock button will not solve this problem. We will discuss 4 other solutions to solve this problem.

1. Try Turning On Sticky Keys

Windows has multiple accessibility features. Sticky Keys is one of them. After we turn on the Sticky Keys the modifier keys will remain active the Excel. In this section, we will show how to solve the problem of arrow keys not working by turning on the Sticky Keys feature.

📌 Steps:

We will enter the Control Panel first.
Write down Control Panel on the Search box of the taskbar.
Then, click on the Control Panel option from the shown matches.

We enter the Control Panel window.
Choose Ease of Access from the settings list.

After that, select the Change how your keyboard works option from the Ease of Access Center.

We enter another window.
Search the Make it easier to type section of this window.
Mark the Turn on Sticky Keys feature.
Then, click on the OK and Apply buttons.

After this, the scrolling problem will solve.

Alternative Way:

There is a keyboard shortcut to enable Sticky Keys in Excel. Just press the Shift button 5 times and then choose Yes from the appeared pop-up box.

2. Check Excel Status Bar If Scroll Lock Is Enabled There and Disable It

We already know that Windows has a dedicated button named Scroll Lock to disable the working of arrows. Despite this button, Microsoft Excel has its own feature to disable the working of arrow buttons. Look at this method.

📌 Steps:

First, enter an Excel worksheet.
Go to the Status Bar at the bottom of the sheet.
Press the right button of the mouse.
The Customize Status Bar containing different options will appear.
Look at the Scroll Lock option. If this turn on, make this turn-off.

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3. Diagnose Add-Ins and Disable the Problematic Ones

Sometimes it is not possible to identify the reason why arrow keys are not working. One of the reasons for this problem is the use of Add-ins. This problem arises due to the bugs of those Add-ins. To solve this problem, we need to identify the Add-ins containing bugs and then need to disable those Add-ins.

📌 Steps:

Go to File >> Options >> Add-ins.
Now, click on any of the Add-ins.
Then, select Excel Add-ins in the Manage section.
Finally, click on the Go button.

Now, untick all the Add-ins and click the OK button.

After that, check if the arrow keys are working or not.

If scrolling works then, check each Add-in one by one.
After detecting the problematic Add-ins, remove them from Excel.

4. Check If Columns or Rows Are Freezed and Undo It

Microsoft Excel has a feature to Freeze columns or rows. When we enable this feature, it seems that the scrolling of arrow keys is not working properly. But actually, the arrow keys are working.

📌 Steps:

Look at the below image.

It seems that Rows 1 to 14 and Columns A to I are fixed. Now, unfreeze the rows and columns.

Go to Freeze Panes from the View tab.
Click on the Unfreeze Panes option.

After that, all rows or columns are unfrozen. So, the working of arrow keys is visible now.

Conclusion

In this article, we described 4 methods to solve the problem of arrow keys not working in Excel when the scroll lock key is not on. Those methods are applicable to all versions of Excel including Windows 10. I hope this will satisfy your needs. Please have a look at our website ExcelDemy and give your suggestions in the comment box.