Look out for a light on your keyboard’s scroll lock button. You won’t be able to use the arrow keys in Excel when the keyboard’s scroll lock is enabled. The most common solution to not being able to use the arrow keys in Excel is to turn off your scroll lock. With this guide, we'll show you how to fix not working arrow keys in Excel. When Excel arrow keys aren't working properly, the process can be frustrating. Arrow keys help you move from one cell to another on an Excel spreadsheet with a single key-press.