Disable Excel 2003 Menu Accelerators keys in Excel 2007-2010
Ron de Bruin (last updated 25-July-2010)
Go back to the Excel tips page

In Excel 2007-2010 you can still use the old shortcuts to the Excel 2003 menu controls.
For example Alt ti will popup the Add-ins dialog in Excel 2003 and also in Excel 2007-2010.

When you press Alt t in Excel 2007-2010 you see this on the ribbon.



When you press the i it will open the add-ins dialog.

Another example is Alt tms to open the Macro settings dialog.
But what if you want to build a dictator workbook and want to have full control?

Below you can find code to disable and enable the 2003 accelerator keys in 2007-2010.
In Excel 2003 you can disable the menu or control but in Excel 2007-2010 we must change the
caption of the control because if you disable the menu or control the keys still work.

Copy the two macros below in a standard module of your workbook.
Sub Disable_2003_Accelerators_keys_In_Excel_2007_2010()
'Disable the Excel 2003 Accelerators keys in Excel 2007-2010
'Thanks to Tony Jollans
    Dim Ctl As CommandBarControl
    For Each Ctl In Application.CommandBars("&Legacy Keyboard Support").Controls
        Ctl.Tag = Ctl.Caption
        Ctl.Caption = Replace(Ctl.Caption, "&", "")
    Next
End Sub

Sub Enable_2003_Accelerators_keys_In_Excel_2007_2010()
'Enable the Excel 2003 Accelerators keys in Excel 2007-2010
'Thanks to Tony Jollans
    Dim Ctl As CommandBarControl
    For Each Ctl In Application.CommandBars("&Legacy Keyboard Support").Controls
        Ctl.Caption = Ctl.Tag
    Next
End Sub

Tip: If you want to disable the keys only for one workbook you can place the code
in the Activate and Deactivate event in the ThisWorkbook module of that file.

See this page if you not know where to paste the code
http://www.rondebruin.nl/code.htm
Private Sub Workbook_Activate()
    Call Disable_2003_Accelerators_keys_In_Excel_2007_2010
End Sub

Private Sub Workbook_Deactivate()
    Call Enable_2003_Accelerators_keys_In_Excel_2007_2010
End Sub



More information

Change the Ribbon in Excel 2007 or Excel 2010
http://www.rondebruin.nl/ribbon.htm

To disable other shortcuts see my onkey page
http://www.rondebruin.nl/key.htm

Check out MVP Tony Jollans site for information about Word.
http://www.wordarticles.com/Shorts/Accelerators/Accelerators.htm