Sometimes in Excel, we like to use the 4 arrow keys to move between cells if we are working with a large worksheet with a lot of columns and rows. Activating the scroll lock feature is one of the efficient ways to use arrows to move between cells. While some users might find it very effective to have the scroll lock feature enabled, others might find it quite annoying who have activated this feature mistakenly and now can not use the arrow keys to move between cells. In this tutorial, I will show you how to deactivate the scroll lock feature so you can use the arrows to move the screen not the cell in Excel.
How to Use Arrows to Move Screen Not Cell: 4 Suitable Methods
Let’s assume a scenario where we have an Excel file containing information about a company’s employees. The worksheet has the Name, Age, Gender, Date of Birth, and the State each of them comes from. The problem is that this worksheet has the Scroll-lock enabled or on. As a result, instead of moving between cells, the arrow keys are now moving the entire worksheet or screen due to this feature. We will now disable the Scroll-lock feature of this worksheet to enable the arrow keys to move between cells. The image below shows the worksheet with the Scroll-lock feature enabled.
1. Turn Off the Scroll Lock Using the On-Screen Keyboard to Move Cell in Excel
We can use the On-Screen keyboard to turn off the Screen Lock in our worksheet. Just follow the below steps.
Step 1:
- First, you have to open the On-Screen Keyboard by pressing the Windows logo key
+ CTRL + O to turn on the On-Screen Keyboard. - Alternatively, you can also turn on the On-Screen Keyboard from the Settings option. For that, you have to click on the Start menu of Windows from the taskbar and then select the Settings option from the menu bar that will appear.
+ CTRL + O to turn on the On-Screen Keyboard.
- Another way to open the Settings option is to click on the Search option from the taskbar and then type Settings on the Search.
- You can then click on the Settings option from the search list.
Step 2:
- Now, a new window will appear with different types of Settings. Then, we will click on the Ease of Access on the rightmost side of the window.
- Now, another window will now appear. We will scroll down the menu bar on the left side of that window. We will then select Keyboard under the Interaction.
Step 3:
- A new window with different options to manage the keyboard will appear. We will see a toggle button titled Use the On-Screen Keyboard. By default, it is set to Off. We will toggle the button from Off to On.
- The On-Screen Keyboard will appear on the screen. We will see that the ScrLk key is turned on in our On-Screen Keyboard as indicated by the key being filled with light blue.
- So, we will click on the key to turn it off.
- Now, we will see that the key is no longer filled with light blue. That means the ScrLk is turned off.
- Another very easy way to turn on the On-Screen Keyboard is to the Run command of the Windows. Press Windows key + R to open the Run.
- Now, the Run window with an input box will appear. We will type OSK.EXE in the input box.
- We will then click on the OK An On-Screen Keyboard will appear.
Step 4:
- Finally, we will turn off the On-Screen Keyboard by toggling the Use the On-Screen Keyboard button to Off.
- If we now go back to our Excel worksheet, we will see that it does not have the Scroll Lock option anymore. We can also now move the cells instead of the worksheet or screen using the arrow keys on our keyboard.
Read More: [Fixed!] Unable to Move Cells in Excel
2. Turn Off the Scroll Lock From the Keyboard to Move Cell in Excel
Step 1:
Most of the keyboards on the laptop nowadays do not have a Scroll Lock key on them. But sometimes you might find one on a few models. Also the external keyboards most of the time come with a Scroll Lock key on them. The image below shows the Scroll Lock key on an external keyboard. You can press this key turn the Scroll Lock key On and Off.
Step 2:
- Some laptops have a shortcut key assigned to the Scroll Lock. For example, you can use the Fn+S to enable the Scroll Lock feature in Dell laptops.
- On an HP laptop, you can press Fn+C to activate the Scroll Lock.
3. Turn On the Sticky Key From the Keyboard
Disabling the Screen Lock key should solve the problem in most cases. But even after turning off the Screen Lock key does not solve the problem, then you could turn on the STICKY KEYS if that solves the problem.
Steps:
- First, go to Settings>Ease of Access>Keyboard like Method 1.
- Then, toggle the Use Sticky Keys button to On like the image below.
+ CTRL + O all at once to turn on the On-Screen Keyboard, you can press one key at a time and the On-Screen Keyboard will still open.
Read More: How to Move Cells with Keyboard in Excel
4. Disable the Installed Add-Ins
Sometimes the Add-Ins we have installed might interfere with Excel. That might also disrupt the arrows keys function. In such a case, we have to disable the Add-Ins to see if that solves the problem with the arrow keys.
Step 1:
- First, click on the File tab on the left of the Home tab.
- Now, a new window will open. Click on the Options like the image below.
Step 2:
- Another window titled Excel Options will appear. Now, we will click on the Add-ins.
- Then we will click on the Go button just like the image below.
Step 3:
- We will then deselect or tick off all the Add-Ins available.
- Finally, we will click on the OK.
Things to Remember
- When SCROLL LOCK is on, Scroll Lock is displayed on the status bar in Excel.
- To use the ARROW KEYs to shift between cells, you must turn SCROLL KEY.
- Also if you want to use the ARROW KEYs to toggle between cells, you must turn SCROLL KEY To do that, press the Scroll Lock key. This key is labeled as ScLk on the keyboard.
Download Practice Workbook
Download this practice book to exercise the task while you are reading this article.
Conclusion
In this article, we have learned to. Along with that, we also learn to use the arrows to move screen not cell in Excel. I hope from now on you can use the arrows to move the screen not cell in Excel very easily. However, if you have any queries or recommendations about this article, please do leave a comment below. Have a great day!!!
