Canceling a Command

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 6, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


1

If you start to perform a command or action within Excel, you may want to cancel it before it finishes. To do this, the general rule is to simply press the Esc key. This should cancel any command or action that Excel is processing. It is also interesting to note that you can press Esc to close most every dialog box that may pop up in Excel.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3319) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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. ...

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What is 8 - 0?

2021-08-13 06:25:38

Daniel Olmeda

That's not necessarily true. The reason why anyone would want to cancel a process in Excel or any Microsoft program is because it's hanging (frozen). The best thing to do is to let the process run it's course, and not make the mistake again. If you really want to kill the process, there isn't an "xkill" function in Microsoft. You'll have to open the task manager and kill it that way.


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