Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Removing a Macro from a Shortcut Key.

Removing a Macro from a Shortcut Key

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 15, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365

You can customize Word quite a bit just by assigning your various macros to different shortcut key combinations. Press the shortcut key, and viola—the macro is executed post haste.

At some point, however, you may want to remove the association between the shortcut key and the macro. In order to do this, follow these steps:

Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 or a later version, display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
At the left side of the dialog box click Customize (Word 2007) or Customize Ribbon (Word 2010 or a later version). (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Customize Ribbon options of the Word Options dialog box.

Click the Customize button, near the bottom of the dialog box. Word displays the Customize Keyboard dialog box. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2. The Customize Keyboard dialog box.

Scroll through the Categories list and select the Macros category. The list at the right side of the dialog box changes to show the currently available macros.
In the Macros list, select the macro you want to affect. Word should display, in the Current Keys box, the list of current shortcut key assignments for the macro.
Select the key assignment you want to remove.
Click on Remove.
Repeat steps 6 through 7 for each change you want to make.
Click on Close.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (7979) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Removing a Macro from a Shortcut Key.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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What is 8 + 7?

2019-11-16 16:18:33

Karen Schouest

Hi, Allen -

The method I have always used saves a few steps:

Open the Customize Keyboard window
Tab or click into the "Press new shortcut key window.
Press the key combo that you want to remove.
Glance down below the "Current keys" window to note which function or macro the key is assigned to, to confirm you have the correct shortcut.
Click on Assign (or tab to Assign and press the Enter key) to assign it to the first available function.
Click or tab into the "Current keys" window, select the unwanted shortcut, and click on Remove.

That saves the trouble of having to track down the function or macro the shortcut is currently assigned to. It doesn't matter *what* it's assigned to if you simply want to remove it, so reassigning it to where you are in the moment, and then removing it is quick and easy.

Thank you, Allen, for being around all these years and helping us get the most bang for our buck when we are working with Word. Even in my busiest moments, when I see your name show up in my inbox, I can't help but at least take a quick peak at the new tips that are waiting to be discovered, and then tag it as important so that I can remember to return to it later, when I have time to exhale again. And return I do. Over and over. ~Karen :)

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