Alt-F11 to open VBE has stopped working!

Jolly Green Giant

New Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2004
Messages
4
Hi everyone.

I'm a newly registered member. Hope someone 'out there' can help me with this oddball problem....

I've been using VBE to build on recorded macros for many a year now. All self taught, learning more all the time. I'm a bit of a keyboard freak (ie keep my hands off the mouse as much as poss, for speed) and 'suddenly' my Alt-F11 keyboard shortcut, to open up the VBE, has stopped working!

I can't correlate this with any particular event (loading new software, installing add-in, customising toolbars, applying shortcut keys to macros, or anything else that I might suspect was a cause...).

Alt-key still works fine on its own, eg to access menus. F11-key still works fine on its own (creates chart). Other Alt-Function Key combinations still work (eg Alt-F8 to show Macro dialog box).

I can't find anyplace where a user can switch shortcut keys on or off or customise them.

I'm stumped!! Just hope someone out there can help as this is a big annoyance for me (considering it's such a small, incidental problem.)
 
Thank you for posting this! I kept hitting ALT + F8 and little icons would pop up around the ribbon but wouldn't activate the macro and I couldn't figure this out for weeks! Stupid F Lock.

Thanks

Thanks dl7631, I know this is well over two years old now, but the dang F Lock got me too. Thanks for the post.

Here it is May 2019 and I have this same issue. The default installation also kept me from being able to drag or fill a series of cells, but a quick search revealed that a setting in File |Options | Advanced would take care of it, and it did. I haven't found any settings relating to this issue, though. :(

My system is Wind 10 Pro, Office 2016 Pro, wireless ergo keyboard with special keys, and plenty of memory.

My keyboard has the Func Lock. I've tried with FL off and with FL on, and neither will work. I'm glad it worked for some, but I still need some help and input, please.

I can click Developer to open the VBA editor, but that isn't how I've been doing it at work or at home for many years. It also doesn't work in Access. I'd wager that fixing it for one Office app will fix it for all.


I feel so bad but I have to report that I solved the issue. OK, it wasn't me, but member @jruck who posted about the GEForce Experience setting. When I first read this thread I got tunnel vision when I saw the Function Lock comments. I completely overlooked the actual solution! Sorry about that.

I went to the settings as instructed, turned off the Game Overlay, and suddenly Alt + F11 worked!

Thank you jruck!
 
Upvote 0

Excel Facts

VLOOKUP to Left?
Use =VLOOKUP(A2,CHOOSE({1,2},$Z$1:$Z$99,$Y$1:$Y$99),2,False) to lookup Y values to left of Z values.
I know this is an older thread, but.. I was also having this same issue and searching led me here and my solution was different so I figured that I would post it just in case anyone else comes along the same issue.

My problem was that I have an Nvidia graphics card with the GeForce Experience Desktop application installed and the setting for IN-GAME OVERLAY was enabled. This was causing the App to essentially eat the command before getting to Excel.

To resolve, go to the Windows search functionality and type "GeForce Experience" and open the application. On the right hand side of the top bar click the gear icon to open settings. Look for the option for IN-GAME OVERLAY and disable it.

Alt+F11 functionality will now be restored in excel.

Thank you!
 
Upvote 0
I know it's was a really old threat - but the problem can still come up today.
I am posting one simple solution - just to make sure one can find it on mrexcel.com
If your Alt+F11 suddenly stops working - try a simple solution first:
Check out your keyboard. Most likely it's not a basic keyboard anymore - it probably has some fancy functions (e.g., e-mail related like "Send" or "Reply"). Notice - there is a key that says "F Lock" or "F" or "Function Lock" (it's usually on the upper right part of the keyboard). Well, press it (a little light will go on)!
Now - you can use your favorite keys (like Alt+F11 or F4). Until you do that - they won't work or will work in a strange way (doing not what you expect them to do).
Cheers!
Oh my gosh, amazing! You just saved me a ton of time! Thanks!!!
 
Upvote 0
I know this is an older thread, but.. I was also having this same issue and searching led me here and my solution was different so I figured that I would post it just in case anyone else comes along the same issue.

My problem was that I have an Nvidia graphics card with the GeForce Experience Desktop application installed and the setting for IN-GAME OVERLAY was enabled. This was causing the App to essentially eat the command before getting to Excel.

To resolve, go to the Windows search functionality and type "GeForce Experience" and open the application. On the right hand side of the top bar click the gear icon to open settings. Look for the option for IN-GAME OVERLAY and disable it.

Alt+F11 functionality will now be restored in excel.
After what seemed like years of dealing with this issue, this solution worked for me as well. Thank you for sharing this.
 
Upvote 0
I am simply posting this in case someone comes searching for this problem as of late. I have two laptops who suddenly stopped responding to the Alt+F11 keys. I spent a few days on and off researching before I found mention of the Nvidia GEForce Experience. IF you have this installed on your computer, you do NOT need to delete the program, simply go into the settings and look for the IN-GAME OVERLAY option and turn it off! For some reason this program allows game play to take control off the alt+F11 key functions, as well as others.

1637246898380.png
 
Upvote 0
I know this is an older thread, but.. I was also having this same issue and searching led me here and my solution was different so I figured that I would post it just in case anyone else comes along the same issue.

My problem was that I have an Nvidia graphics card with the GeForce Experience Desktop application installed and the setting for IN-GAME OVERLAY was enabled. This was causing the App to essentially eat the command before getting to Excel.

To resolve, go to the Windows search functionality and type "GeForce Experience" and open the application. On the right hand side of the top bar click the gear icon to open settings. Look for the option for IN-GAME OVERLAY and disable it.

Alt+F11 functionality will now be restored in excel.
Dear.

I just want say thank you. I was pulling my hair since I wasn't able to figure the reason the VBE shortcut didn't worked.
This issue is tricky, I never thought that the Geforce Experience is the guilty for this problem.

Wish to you all the best.
 
Upvote 0
ALT+F11 not opening the Excel VBA pane

The trick below fixed for me.

I found a place in which you can test if your keys are working on the fly

Keyboard Tester

The tester helped me to determinate that all the keys that have a double function (F9 to F12) were acting as if I have the Fn key pushed when in fact the key wasn’t pushed. From there I found this article on how to enable back the fn key

Fn key: how to enable and disable functionality of the Fn button - IONOS

After pushing Fn + Scroll lock + Scape it was fixed

The pushed keys on my keyboard are blue white
sql capoeira
 

Attachments

  • Fn_Keys_Anabler.png
    Fn_Keys_Anabler.png
    27.4 KB · Views: 2
Last edited:
Upvote 0

Forum statistics

Threads
1,212,929
Messages
6,110,741
Members
448,295
Latest member
Uzair Tahir Khan

We've detected that you are using an adblocker.

We have a great community of people providing Excel help here, but the hosting costs are enormous. You can help keep this site running by allowing ads on MrExcel.com.
Allow Ads at MrExcel

Which adblocker are you using?

Disable AdBlock

Follow these easy steps to disable AdBlock

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the "Pause on this site" option.
Go back

Disable AdBlock Plus

Follow these easy steps to disable AdBlock Plus

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the toggle to disable it for "mrexcel.com".
Go back

Disable uBlock Origin

Follow these easy steps to disable uBlock Origin

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the "Power" button.
3)Click on the "Refresh" button.
Go back

Disable uBlock

Follow these easy steps to disable uBlock

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the "Power" button.
3)Click on the "Refresh" button.
Go back
Back
Top