Cell is not moving in excel

Asked by: Sven Kulas

Score: 4.2/5
(1 votes)

Click File > Options. In the Advanced category, under Editing options, select or clear the Enable fill handle and cell drag-and-drop check box. … If you do not want Excel to display a message about overwriting non-blank cells, you can clear this check box.

Why can’t I drag cells down in Excel?

If you’re still having an issue with drag-to-fill, make sure your advanced options (File –> Options –> Advanced) have “Enable fill handle…” checked. You might also run into drag-to-fill issues if you’re filtering. Try removing all filters and dragging again.

How do I enable drag cells in Excel?

How to Enable Drag and Drop Option in Microsoft Excel

How do I fix dragging cells in Excel?

Can not Move cell in Excel?

Windows — Turn off the Scroll Lock feature by pressing the Shift-Scroll Lock (ScrLk) keys. Alternately, use the On-Screen Keyboard and click the ScrLk button in the lower right.

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It is frustrating when all is operating well in excel spreadsheet, but you encounter the “Excel Arrows Not Moving Cell” error. In an Excel spreadsheet, arrow keys help you move around the cells with just a single key press, but they carry the spreadsheet, not the cursor.

Well, if you too encounter a similar issue, then with this guide, you will learn some simple ways to fix this problem. Read the entire post and learn the tricks to select the excel arrows.

There are multiple reasons for this problem. Disabled Sticky keys, scroll lock, and abled ADD-Ins are some of the causes. Below are the four ways to fix “Excel Arrows Not Moving Cell.”

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Few of the ways of fixing when the excel arrows are not moving the cell are:

Turning Off The Scroll Lock

If you have enabled the scroll lock, you cannot use the arrow keys in Excel spreadsheets. You need to turn the Scroll lock off to use the arrow keys.

Turning Off The Scroll Lock Using A Keyboard

Please search for the scroll lock button on your keyboard and press it. This will disable the scroll lock, and now you can use the arrow keys. 

For Mac users, press ctrl+f14 or shift+f14. If the lock is still enabled, then try pressing command+f14.                               

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Turning Off Scroll Lock Without Using The Keyboard

Turning off the scroll lock without using the keyboard for both Windows and MacOS users are:

 For Windows Users

Do not worry if you cannot find the Scroll lock button on your keyboard. Windows has an inbuilt keyboard on which you can find the Scroll button. Follow the steps if you are operating on windows.

1. Click on the start button.
2. Through the search bar, please search for the on-screen keyboard and open it.
3. An on-screen keyboard will be displayed in front of you.
4. Please search for the Scroll lock button and click on it to turn it off.  
5. Now, go back to the Excel sheets and try using the arrow keys.

For MacOS Users

MacOS users need to run an AppleScript to fix this error. Do not worry! This is not too difficult to fix. You need to copy-paste the program below, and your arrow keys will no longer create any hindrance.

1. Firstly, launch the Launchpad and then open TextEdit.
2. Now, create a new empty file and copy-paste the given below program as given. Program Commands (Copy- Paste):
   1. set returned items to (display dialog “Press OK to send scroll lock keypress to Microsoft Excel or press Quit” with the title “Excel Scroll-lock Fix” buttons {“Quit,” “OK”} default button 2)
   2. set buttonPressed to the button returned of returnedItems
   3. if buttonPressed is “OK,” then
   4. tell application “Microsoft Excel.”
   5. activate
   6. end tell
   7. describe application “System Events.”
   8. key code 107 using {shift down}
   9. end tell
   10. activate
   11. display dialog “Scroll Lock key sent to Microsoft Excel” with the title “Mac Excel Scroll-lock Fix” buttons {“OK”}
   12. end if
3. Could you save the file and name it FixExcelKeys?Applescript.
4. Return to the Excel sheet and open the file you saved as FixExcelKeys.Applescript.
5. When the file opens, click on the RUN button to quickly fix the problem.

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Enabling Sticky Keys

Another effective way for “excel arrows not moving cell” is enabling the sticky keys. Sticky keys have no work to do with the excel sheets, but you can try allowing them to sort this issue. Read the complete procedure to enable sticky keys on your windows.

1. First, open the control panel of your system.
2. Now click on the “Ease Of Access Centre” option.
3. Then, choose the option “Make keyboard Easier use.”
4. Now you will see the option to turn on sticky keys. Click on the checkbox as shown to enable the sticky keys.
5. Run to the Excel sheet and check if the trick works.

Alternatively, press the shift key five times to enable the sticky keys. As soon as you press the sticky keys five times, a dialog box will open, asking you to press yes or no. Click yes to enable the keys.

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Disabling Scroll Key In Excel

Sometimes the excel sheet creates a problem, which is why you cannot use the arrow keys. If you need to check that there is some issue with the excel sheet, one can run a quick test using other spreadsheets. If the other sheets allow you to use the arrow keys properly, then there is some problem with the particular excel sheet.

Let us find out how you can fix the “Excel Arrows Not Moving Cell” using excel only.

1. Excel has an inbuilt option for Scroll lock. If it is enabled, you cannot use the arrow keys.
2. Firstly, open Microsoft Excel and open any new or existing sheet.
3. Check if the arrow buttons are working on these sheets. If you do not face any issue, the problem is with the excel sheet itself.
4. To fix the excel sheet, right-click on the status bar present at the bottom of the sheet, or you can search for the page layout option too.
5. Now you will find a list of options, search for the scroll lock option and disable it.
6. After disabling the scroll lock button, you can use the arrow buttons in the excel spreadsheet.

Is your TF2 also not launching on Windows 10? Refer to this article and solve your issue.

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Deactivating Add-ins

If disabling the scroll lock does not work, you can try deactivating the Add-ins. Here are the complete steps to help to halt the Add-ins option.

1. To fix the “Excel Arrows Not Moving Cell” issue, open MS Excel, click on the File tab, and then go to options.
2. In the excel options, click on the Add-ins.
3. Please remove the checkbox from Add-ins to deactivate it.
4. Once you have successfully deactivated the Add-ins, go to the Excel sheets and check if the arrow keys are working properly.

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 Conclusion

Hence, this article provides several ways of fixing if in case the excel arrows not moving the cell. Hope this article helped you. Do let us know about any queries in the comment section.

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When everything is working as expected, when you hit the up arrow key or the down arrow key in Excel, you would expect the cursor to go to the cell above or below.

And since you’re reading this article, I can assume that it’s not happening with your Excel.

One common issue with arrow keys in Excel is that it moves the worksheet, but the cursor doesn’t move.

It’s as if the cursor is stuck in the cell and doesn’t move with the arrow key, but the worksheet page scrolls.

And it has a really easy fix – the scroll lock.

In this short tutorial, I will show you how to fix when arrow keys are not working as expected in your Excel file.

Disable the Scroll Lock to Fix the Arrow Keys in Excel

When scroll lock is enabled, it does exactly that – locks the scrolling.

If this is the case, you will also see Scroll Lock written in the status bar in Excel (at the left side of the Status bar), as shown below:

And if you want to get the original functionality of the arrow keys in Excel back, you need to disable the scroll lock.

Disabling with a Keyboard that Has the Scroll Lock Key

If you’re using a keyboard that has a numeric keypad, there is a good chance that you already have the scroll lock key.

And to disable the scroll lock, you need to find the key and press it.

This would disable the scroll lock. In most keyboards, there would also be a scroll lock light that would turn off, indicating that it is no longer active.

Disabling Scroll Lock with On-Screen Keyboard

With laptops getting smaller and sleeker, many keyboards don’t have the scroll lock key.

So if you somehow manage to enable the scroll lock, you won’t be able to disable it with a keypress.

No worries – we can use the On-Screen Keyboard.

Below are the steps to do this:

1. Go to the search bar in Windows
2. Search for ‘keyboard’. This should show the On-screen keyboard option
3. Click on the On-Screen Keyboard option. This will open the… you guessed it, the On-Screen Keyboard
4. Locate the Scroll Lock (ScrLk) and click on it

The above steps would disable the scroll lock and you will be able to move the cursor in Excel using the arrow keys.

Pro tip: You can use the keyboard shortcut Windows + Cntrl + O to open the on-screen keyboard.

Disable Add-ins and Check

In most cases, disabling the scroll lock should fix the issue.

In an off chance that the issue still persists for you, there is a possibility that some add-in is interfering with the keystrokes.

This can be the case if you’re using any third-party add-ins in Excel.

You can troubleshoot this by disabling the add-ins and see if the arrow key issue gets fixed.

Below are the steps to disable the add-ins in Excel:

1. Open any Excel file

1. Click the File tab

1. Click on Options. This will open the Excel Options dialog box.

1. In the Excel Options dialog box, click on the Add-ins option in the left-pane

1. Click on the Manage drop-down (which is at the bottom of the dialog box)

1. Click on COM Add-ins

1. Click on Go

1. In the COM Add-ins dialog box that opens, disable all the add-ins

1. Click Ok

Once done, close the workbook and open it again and check whether the arrow keys work as expected or not. If an add-in was causing the issue, it should be fixed.

You can also try and enable the add-in and see if the issue persists. Sometimes, the process of disabling and enabling the add-in takes care of the issue and you can then continue using the same add-in.

So this is how you can troubleshoot in case your arrow keys are not working as expected in Excel (i.e., scrolling instead of moving the cursor).

I hope you found this tutorial useful.

Other Excel tutorials you may also like:

• Excel Formulas Not Working: Possible Reasons and How to FIX IT!
• How to Turn OFF Scroll Lock in Excel?
• Microsoft Excel Won’t Open – How to Fix it!
• How to Fix Slow Excel Spreadsheets (Speed-up Excel)
• How to Create a Scroll Bar in Excel
• How to Automatically Open Specific Excel File on Startup
• Excel Tabs/Sheets Not Showing – How to Fix?

While working on a worksheet, cells themselves may need to be inserted, moved, or deleted. When cells are changed and moved, the existing cells shift, along with their content, to adjust for the changes to adjacent cells.

Insert Cells

First, you’ll want to select the cells next to where you want the new ones.

1. Select the cell or cell range where you want to insert the new cells.
2. Click the Insert button list arrow.
3. Select Insert Cells.

   

   The Insert dialog box appears.

4. Select how you want to move the adjacent cells:
   • Shift cells right: Shift existing cells to the right.
   • Shift cells down: Shift existing cells down.
   • Entire row: Insert an entire row.
   • Entire column: Insert an entire column.
5. Click OK.

   

   Right-click the selected cell(s) and select Insert from the contextual menu.

Blank cells are inserted and the existing ones move according to your selection.

Insert Rows or Columns

1. Select the column or row heading next to where you want to insert new cells.
2. Click the Insert button.

   

   You can also right-click a row or column heading and select Insert from the contextual menu.

The row or column is inserted. Existing rows are shifted downward, while existing columns are shifted to the right.

Move Cells

Now let’s check out how to move cells to a different area of a spreadsheet.

1. Select the cell or cell range you want to move.
2. Move the mouse pointer over the outline of the selected cells.
3. Click and drag the cells to the new location.

   

And the cells are moved.

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