Scroll Lock in Excel does one weird thing – it changes how the arrow keys work. Instead of moving between cells, the arrows scroll the entire view. Most people never want this. But it stays on accidentally and people get stuck.
Here are the three ways to turn it off, depending on whether your keyboard has a Scroll Lock key.
Press the Scroll Lock key
Full-size keyboards have a dedicated Scroll Lock key in the top-right area near Print Screen. Press it once. The Scroll Lock indicator (usually small light or status bar text) turns off.
Excel's status bar at the bottom shows "Scroll Lock" when it's on. After pressing the key, that text disappears. Arrows work normally again.
Use the on-screen keyboard if no key exists
Compact keyboards (laptops especially) often lack a Scroll Lock key. Use Windows' on-screen keyboard instead:
- Press Windows + Ctrl + O to open the on-screen keyboard
- Find the ScrLk key on it
- Click it once
- Close the on-screen keyboard
Excel returns to normal arrow key behavior. Useful trick for any laptop without a dedicated Scroll Lock.
Mac users – use Fn + Shift + F14
Mac keyboards don't have Scroll Lock either. The shortcut is Fn + Shift + F14 on most Macs. Press all three at the same time.
If that doesn't work, try Shift + F14 on its own. Mac keyboards vary – older ones might need a different combination. Excel for Mac responds to either depending on the model.
Check if Scroll Lock is on
Sometimes you're not sure if it's on. Look at the Excel status bar at the very bottom of the window. If "Scroll Lock" is shown, it's on.
You can also right-click the status bar and check the Scroll Lock option. If "On" is showing, scroll lock is active.
When you might actually want Scroll Lock
Scroll Lock is rare but useful in specific cases:
- You want to scroll through a huge spreadsheet without moving the active cell
- You're reviewing data and need to compare distant rows side by side
- You want to scroll using arrow keys instead of the mouse wheel
- You're using a screen reader and need keyboard scroll control
For these uses, leave it on. Otherwise turn it off. 99% of Excel users never need it.
Disable accidentally pressing Scroll Lock
If you keep hitting Scroll Lock by accident on a full-size keyboard, you can disable the key entirely. Use SharpKeys, a free Windows tool. Open it. Add a remap that maps Scroll Lock to nothing.
Apply. Restart. Now the Scroll Lock key does nothing when pressed. Excel scrolling stays normal.
Excel cell navigation tricks
Some keyboard shortcuts that work better than scrolling for navigating big spreadsheets:
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + Arrow | Jump to next data edge |
| Ctrl + Home | Go to cell A1 |
| Ctrl + End | Go to last used cell |
| Ctrl + G | Go To dialog, type any cell reference |
| F5 | Same Go To dialog |
These are way more useful than Scroll Lock for moving around big workbooks. Learn them and you'll forget Scroll Lock exists.
What keyboard layout are you using? Tell me and I'll mention any specific way to handle Scroll Lock for that one.