Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. 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 2021

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 2021. 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...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Fitting Your Printout on a Page

Tired of wasting paper when you print a worksheet? You can scale Excel's output so that it fits only the number of pages ...

Discover More

Determining a Worksheet's Number

When you add a new worksheet to a workbook, it receives a meaningful name such as "Sheet4" or "Sheet17." If you want to ...

Discover More

Stopping a Workbook from Persistently Auto-Loading

Excel has the capability to automatically open workbooks when you first start the program. You may not want to have one ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 365 applications with VBA programming. Written in clear terms and understandable language, the book includes systematic tutorials and contains both intermediate and advanced content for experienced VB developers. Designed to be comprehensive, the book addresses not just one Office application, but the entire Office suite. Check out Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 365 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Understanding Precedence

Formulas created in a macro have a specific order in which operations are performed. This is known as precedence, as ...

Discover More

Character Frequency Count

Word collects a wide range of statistics about your documents, but one of the things it doesn't collect is how many times ...

Discover More

Understanding the Select Case Structure

Programming structures are an important tool used by any programmer. The VBA language used by Word's macros includes ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is nine minus 4?

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 :)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.