Customize Keyboard Excel 2016 for Mac -- Remove Existing Keyboard Shortcut

Question

Hello all!

I'm needing to REMOVE a default keyboard shortcut.

Under 'Tools' in the menu bar, > Customize Keyboard... > under 'Categories' select 'Home Tab' > under 'Commands' select 'Italic' > under 'Specify a Keyboard Shortcut' I'm trying to remove both of the 'Current keys' ('Control+I', and 'Command+I') so that I can make Command+I insert rows/cells like the older versions of excel did. I already created new commands in excel under system preferences, but the italic command is still overriding the Command+I shortcut. 

At first I thought there must be some system shortcut that makes excel not able to remove it, but I can't find that anywhere. Any help will be MUCH appreciated!

Answer 1

The built-in keyboard shortcuts in Excel 2016/2019 cannot be removed. Only shortcuts assigned by the user can be removed by the user.

However, most of them can be reassigned. The reason Alex Wang failed is that he assigned Command+I to the wrong command... Insert Row Above [as well as Insert Row Below] operates only in an Excel Table, not for an unstructured sheet.

If you assign Command+I to Insert Sheet Rows you should find that it works just fine to insert 1 (or more) rows above the selected row(s). If you wish, you also can reassign Control+I to the same command. Otherwise it will continue to invoke Italic formatting.

FYI: If you ever remove the user-assigned shortcut that previously was built-in the original built-in assignment will be restored automatically.

Answer 2

However, most of them can be reassigned. The reason Alex Wang failed is that he assigned Command+I to the wrong command... Insert Row Above [as well as Insert Row Below] operates only in an Excel Table, not for an unstructured sheet.

If you assign Command+I to Insert Sheet Rows you should find that it works just fine to insert 1 (or more) rows above the selected row(s). If you wish, you also can reassign Control+I to the same command. Otherwise it will continue to invoke Italic formatting.

CyberTaz, Thank you for helping with this. How do I go about reassigning the command then? I'm trying to figure out how to make this happen. Can you expound?

Thanks again!

Answer 3

FirstTimerLou,

There is no entry to remove Excel Shortcut in the newer version of Excel for Mac. Sorry about that, you can post this request in Excel for Mac UserVoice, since that is a channel to feedback to the developing team and if more and more users vote for the idea, it's more likely to get the attention of them.

I tried to add a new one to the command Insert Row Above in Excel > Tools, but it did not take any effect. I think it's due to that the shortcut is occupied by the default command Italic as you said. I also tried to add the Shortcut in System preference. But it did not work either. Given this situation, I think the only solution I can give is the Excel for Mac UserVoice. Appreciate your understanding.

Regards,

Alex

Answer 4

OH gotcha. Assign to something other than previously used ones. 

Thank you.

Answer 5

Go into the Customize Keyboard dialog & assign the combination to the Insert Sheet Row command just as though it had never been assigned to something else :-)