Disabling the F1 Key

The F1 key is used to summon forth Excel's help system. It can either start the actual Help system interface, or it can display your favorite Office Assistant, depending on how you have your system configured.

Depending on how you type, you may find the F1 key bothersome. For instance, if you meant to press F2 to edit the contents of a cell, but you instead press F1, this can throw a real crimp in your editing stride. For this reason, you may look for an easy way to disable the F1 key.

One definitely low-tech solution is to simply remove the key. They F1 keycap, on most keyboards used with desktop systems, is relatively easy to remove. If it is a bit stubborn, you may need to slip the edge of a small screwdriver under the cap to help pry it loose.

If you don't like doing this type of keyboard surgery, you can disable the key through the use of a macro. This macro could be included in your Personal.xls file, as a part of the Open event, so that it runs every time that Excel is started. The macro should contain a single command:

Application.OnKey "{F1}", ""

The OnKey method is only triggered, in this case, when the F1 key is pressed. This usage results in the F1 key being ignored. If you wanted the F1 key to run some different procedure, you could use it as follows:

Application.OnKey "{F1}", "MyProcedure"