chrisdobbie
asked on
How to disable keyboard shortcuts in Outlook 2010 via the Registry
I'm trying to disable the Ctrl-A keyboard shortcut from within Outlook 2010. I've found plenty of forums that show how to disable shortcuts in Outlook 2003 and 2007, via registry keys, but I've tried it in Outlook 2010 and it does not work with the Ctrl-A shortcut.
So far I've created the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
And added a REG_SZ value called "DisableCtrlA" with a value of 65,8 .
I figured this should be the way to do it from reading the following:
http://social.technet.micr
http://technet.microsoft.c
However the Ctrl-A key still works after restarting Outlook.
The reason behind doing this is I've been very frustrated by accidentally hitting "Ctrl-A, Ctrl-Q" (which marks all emails as read) when I meant to just hit "Ctrl-Q" to mark one email as read. The A key is close to the Q key so it's really easy to accidentally bump it in this scenario. I depend on marking emails as read when I've dealt with them so I can see what's left to be done, so marking them all as read (which cannot be undone) is a real nightmare for me.
So far I've created the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
And added a REG_SZ value called "DisableCtrlA" with a value of 65,8 .
I figured this should be the way to do it from reading the following:
http://social.technet.micr
http://technet.microsoft.c
However the Ctrl-A key still works after restarting Outlook.
The reason behind doing this is I've been very frustrated by accidentally hitting "Ctrl-A, Ctrl-Q" (which marks all emails as read) when I meant to just hit "Ctrl-Q" to mark one email as read. The A key is close to the Q key so it's really easy to accidentally bump it in this scenario. I depend on marking emails as read when I've dealt with them so I can see what's left to be done, so marking them all as read (which cannot be undone) is a real nightmare for me.
ASKER
Thanks for trying, tailoreddigital, but I've already been through that forum, and you will note that it is for Office 2007 (version 12), not 2010 (version 14), and that key combination is for disabling "Alt-S" rather than "Ctrl-A" .
Please actually read my question in full and check out the links I gave, before posting an answer.
Please actually read my question in full and check out the links I gave, before posting an answer.
You can do this with local policy.
First, see here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179176(v=office.14).aspx
Scroll to Administrative Templates
In the middle, there are links to download the administrative templates. You must do this first. For ease of use, here is the link you need:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=189316
Then see here
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766291(v=ws.10).aspx
and here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179143(v=office.14).aspx#section5
which shows you how to load a local policy in mmc for a specific local user, and it gives you the list of keys for 2010. Takes some reading, but should work for you.
Edit: This should work for a domain as well, in case anyone is interested.
Edit 2: Sorry I messed up the link order in my first response! It should be good now.
First, see here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179176(v=office.14).aspx
Scroll to Administrative Templates
In the middle, there are links to download the administrative templates. You must do this first. For ease of use, here is the link you need:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=189316
Then see here
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766291(v=ws.10).aspx
and here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179143(v=office.14).aspx#section5
which shows you how to load a local policy in mmc for a specific local user, and it gives you the list of keys for 2010. Takes some reading, but should work for you.
Edit: This should work for a domain as well, in case anyone is interested.
Edit 2: Sorry I messed up the link order in my first response! It should be good now.
Also, here is a link to show you how to add the above templates to group policy.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc739134(v=ws.10).aspx
Hope that helps!
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc739134(v=ws.10).aspx
Hope that helps!
Essentially, the steps are:
1. Download the template files.
2. Create a local policy for the user in mmc.exe
3. Add the template to the newly created policy
4. Modify the settings as required, using the last link in my first post.
Shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes, if you read fast.
1. Download the template files.
2. Create a local policy for the user in mmc.exe
3. Add the template to the newly created policy
4. Modify the settings as required, using the last link in my first post.
Shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes, if you read fast.
CTRL-A is a windows select all sequence so it will probably be hard to change. What is easier is to change the 'mark as read' key to another sequence. The easiest method is to add the mark as read to the quick access toolbar and then to mark as read press the alt key plus the position in the QAT that the command is .. For instance, send/receive is the first command in my quick access toolbar so alt-1 will do the send receive.
ASKER
Thanks very much TMeekel, I'll give that a go. However I'm now thinking to upgrade to Office 2013 (via Office365), do you have the equivalent links/templates handy for Office 2013?
(BTW sorry for the delay in responding, there's too much going on here with the end of financial year etc!)
(BTW sorry for the delay in responding, there's too much going on here with the end of financial year etc!)
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ASKER
I haven't had a chance to actually try it yet, but will do so in time and will comment here if there are any further problems.
Browse to,
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
it should be (83, 16) should be the modified registry key
I stole that from,
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-outlook/how-do-you-disable-keyboard-shortcut-keys-in/2c5ba56a-3b70-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5?msgId=7452781c-9670-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5