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How to disable F1 help key in Excel?

Author: Xiaoyang Last Modified: 2014-06-30

When you edit an Excel file, you may always use F2 key to edit the contents of a cell. But, you usually press F1 key instead, it will pop out the Helper dialog box. This may be very boring when you need to use the F2 key time and time again. In this article, I will introduce some quick methods to solve this problem.

Disable F1 help key temporarily with VBA code

Disable F1 help key with VBA code


arrow blue right bubble Disable F1 help key temporarily with VBA code

With the following short code, you can quickly disable F1 key for the opened workbooks, but this code will be invalid after reopening the Excel file.

1. Hold down the ALT + F11 keys to open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

2. In the opened window, please press Ctrl + G keys together to open the Immediate window, then copy and paste this code Application.OnKey "{F1}", "" into the Immediate box, and press Enter key on the keyboard. See screenshot:

disable-f1-key-1

Then close the code window, and now, when you press F1 key, the helper dialog box will not displayed any more.

Notes:

1. If you want to enable the F1 key, again, you can restart the Excel file, or you can also use this code: Application.OnKey "{F1}" as above procedure.

2. This code is applied successfully in Excel 2007/2010, but is not available in Excel 2013.


arrow blue right bubble Disable F1 help key with VBA code

Except the above short code, you can apply the following code as well.

1. Hold down the ALT + F11 keys, and it opens the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

2. Click Insert > Module, and paste the following code in the Module Window.

VBA code: Disable F1 help key

Sub disableF1()
Application.OnKey "{F1}", ""
End Sub

3. Then press F5 key to run this code, and now, the F1 key has been disabled when you press F1 key.

Notes:

1. To enable the F1 key again, please use following code as the same steps as above.

VBAcode: Enable F1 help key

Sub enableF1()
Application.OnKey "{F1}"
End Sub 

2. This code is applied successfully in Excel 2007/2010, but is not available in Excel 2013.

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Comments (7)
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This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
thnkyou..
its worked for me.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
you are wonderful!! your tips have helped me twice today, thank you so much - will save me so much time accidentally opening help
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Thanks - usually i just pop off the F1 key on my keyboard, but at this new job i almost broke my computer. This works great.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Thank you - I usually just pop off the F1 key on my keyboard, but at this new job I almost broke my keyboard trying to get it off. This works much better!
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
I honestly lack words to describe what an idiot was the fucker who placed help in separate .exe, then proceeded to open that .exe after missclicking F1, which is right next to F2, which is the most strategically important key in excel.


If you could go to prison for bad UX, this would be a life sentence crime.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Just delete the hep .exe file located @ C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16
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1 2 3 Sub disableF1() Application.OnKey "{F1}", "" End Sub
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