Disabling the Insert Key

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 22, 2025)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Dave admits he is an inaccurate typist, and he often hits the Insert key when he doesn't mean to. He wonders if there is a way to disable the Insert key in Excel, short of using a screwdriver to pry it off.

There are a number of things you could try. If you don't need to use the Insert key in any program (not just Excel), you can disable the Insert key in Windows by editing the Registry. This page indicates how you can accomplish the task:

http://www.wikihow.com/Disable-the-Insert-Key-in-Windows

Another option, without the necessity of modifying the Registry, is to use a third-party program to change how each key on your system behaves. Here is a candidate you can check out:

http://www.hotkeycontrol.com/

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (5599) 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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Viewing Footnotes and Endnotes

Footnotes and endnotes are normally visible with the rest of your document, but such visibility is dependent on which ...

Discover More

Who Has the File Open?

Open a workbook that someone else is working on, and you won't be able to save your changes back into the same file. ...

Discover More

Formatting for Hundredths of Seconds

When you display a time in a cell, Excel normally displays just the hours, minutes, and seconds. If you want to display ...

Discover More

Best-Selling VBA Tutorial for Beginners Take your Excel knowledge to the next level. With a little background in VBA programming, you can go well beyond basic spreadsheets and functions. Use macros to reduce errors, save time, and integrate with other Microsoft applications. Fully updated for the latest version of Office 365. Check out Microsoft 365 Excel VBA Programming For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Nifty Zooming

If you are using a mouse that has a center wheel, you can use the wheel to zoom in and out of your work. This tip shows ...

Discover More

Saving Changes in the Personal Workbook

The Personal workbook is a special place used to store information and macros that you can access from all the other ...

Discover More

Workaround for Multiple Rows of Worksheet Tabs

If you've got a lot of worksheets in your workbook, you may want to display their tabs in to rows at the bottom of the ...

Discover More
Subscribe

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

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

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.

What is eight minus 8?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

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

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2026 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.