Removing Shortcuts for Macros

Word doesn't show the keyboard shortcuts that Barry has associated with macros, so he wonders how he is supposed to remove the shortcuts. He has read about how he is supposed to remove keyboard shortcuts associated with macros (i.e., Office button | Options | Customize | Keyboard Customize; select Macros on the left, and select a given macro on the right). However, the "current keys" box remains blank when Barry selects a given macro, even though when editing he can press the shortcut sequence and the macro runs. He wonders how he can delete the shortcut associated with a macro since it's not showing up in the "current keys" box.

This does, indeed, seem to be a problem with Word. One can assume that it will be fixed in a future update to the program, but that doesn't help with getting the shortcut removed now. The following general steps may help:

1. Display the VBA Editor.
2. Copy the macro code associated with the shortcut.
3. Paste the macro code into a Notepad document.
4. Delete the macro code from the VBA Editor.
5. Save and close the document.
6. Restart Word.
7. Open the document.
8. Try the shortcut.
9. Save and close the document.
10. Exit Word.

The purpose of these steps is to force Word to conclude that the macro associated with the shortcut is no longer available, and thus delete the shortcut. After these steps, you should theoretically be able to go back into the VBA Editor and put the macro code back into it, and the shortcut should be gone.

If it is not gone, then the problem may best be solved by fiddling around with the Normal template. Create a new, empty template (using a different name than Normal), and then transfer all your macros and styles from Normal to the new template. Then, rename Normal to something else and rename the new template as your Normal template. When you restart Word, you then have all your macros and styles, but any custom shortcuts should now be gone. (They are stored in the Normal template, but there is no easy way to transfer them from one template to another.)

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11919) applies to Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010.