Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 7, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365
When you are creating a macro, you may have a need to know if the Caps Lock key is engaged. (For instance, you may want to warn a user to turn the Caps Lock key off.) If you have this need, the following VBA macro code determines the status of the Caps Lock key, and warns you accordingly:
If Selection.Information(wdCapsLock) Then MsgBox "The Caps Lock key is on" Else MsgBox "The Caps Lock key is off" End If
Note:
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11995) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Determining if Caps Lock is On.
Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2013. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word 2013 Step by Step today!
The main body of your text is only one part of what makes up the entire document. Documents can consist of other ...
Discover MoreOne of the math functions you can use in your macros is the Int function. It provides a way for you to derive an integer ...
Discover MoreNeed to process a document, paragraph by paragraph, in a macro? It's easy to do once you understand that Word's object ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2023-10-08 01:14:46
Tomek
I apologize for this comment being tangential to the tip, but I hope someone may find it useful.
It is very rare that I would need Caps Lock. Most of the time in the past I had had it on, was by mistakenly hitting the caps lock key. So I disabled it. There are two way to do that:
1: Create an entry in Registry Editor (search on Internet how to do this). This will result in permanently disabled Caps Lock or at least until you change the registry back to original.
2: Pop up the caps lock key. Yes, mechanically remove it. It can be done on most keyboards. The benefit is that you can still activate Caps Lock by pushing what was under the key using a pencil or another thin object, sometimes your pinkie will work too. Then you can deactivate it when no longer needed. But you won't turn it on inadvertently.
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.
Visit the WordTips channel on YouTube
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments