Help! My Shift key is stuck!

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Hi, I'd just like to thank you for posting this helpful article. Its saturday morning, and I'm in work trying to get some stuff done. i was using excel, and it was behaving as if a phantom shift key was somehow depressed. i couldnt use auto-filters, and it made using outlook a pain in the ass as well. terribly frustrating. i took a stab through google and found this. problem solved. thanx!

To put sticky keys off:
1. Check if Control Panel-Accessibility options-'Use sticky keys' is ON. If yes turn it off.
2.Then go to Settings-Options.
Turn off 'Press modifier key twice to lock'
Turn on 'Turn sticky keys off if 2 keys are 'pressed at once
And then press any 2 keys simulataneously.

The problem goes...and then you can turn off the use shortcut to avoid this in future

my0 space0 key0 keeps0 putting0 a0 00 in0 front 0so0 when0 ever 0I 0type 0a0 space0 a 00 gets 0inserted.0 How 0do0 i 0stop0 this. 0alse0 all0 my0 number0 keys0 are 0being0 stupid. 0If0 i0 press 0five0 a0 fifty0 four0 appears.0 help

My first suggestion would be to try a different keyboard. Borrow one if you have to, just to make sure, or rule out, that the keyboard itself is the problem.

Just got some good advice for the filterkeys problem (holding down the shift key for 8 seconds produces all capitals and >>> for period). Hold down BOTH shift keys to turn it off. Worked for me! Good Luck

Microsoft HAS to know that MORE people do NOT use this feature than do. I hope they fix this annoyance in the future. I just got finished dealing with it and had come to this page seeking a solution. Thanks Leo for being out there for us.

My solution ended up being pressing the OTHER shift-key once turned off the "STUCK CAPS" effect. To clarify, I was stuck in the "sticky keys" mode with the shift constantly on. I turned off the "use shortcut" as Leo suggested and tried other things. Finally, I simply tried pressing the left shift-key once (holding the right one down as I thought for a second was what got me into the mess) and it appeared to toggle the "sticky keys" back to normal mode.

Again, this is an annoyance more than a help for most people who use the system. If Microsoft can do anything, they should make the "annoyance" for the fewer rather than the bulk of the users. Better yet, fix the damned problem so the regular user does not have to search the web begging others who have figured out how to deal with the people to show them.

Again, thanks Leo for being out here.

I got the all caps and> for period problem after I held down the shift key for a while, and then selected cancel when the filter keys option came up. I tried removing the key and making sure that the key was not sticking. I made sure caps loc was off. I made sure in control panel>>accessibility options that all filter keys, sticky keys, etc. were off, and I still had the problem. I even tried turning each option off and on again and it would not go away. I disabled the shortcut for these filters too. Finally, I fixed the problem by holding down the left shift key for while instead of the right. Go figure.

Great write up, my wife/kids computer had this irritating Sticky Keys issue. I went through all the steps to cut it off... yet it still kept coming on. I then discovered the chunk of Granola jamming the right shift key down... unchecked all of the shortcut keys so it never gets cut again and all is good! Nice article and find... although the food stuck shift key is a new twist. ;)

this 8 seccond shift holding has troubled me many times. specialy if you accidently turn it on, i was not able to turn it off. now i know how to do that. thanks everyone.

that information window that open with ok, cancel and setting buttons does not work or at least it does not have enough information how to use that function. few times when i have clicked cancel filter keys have still turned on, then i have hold shift down another 8 seconds and then clicked ok to make it go off. well after that didnt work i have restarted my computer. that is use full function when you know how to use it, but pain in the ass when you have no idea what it is all about.

Thank you all! A combination of these suggestions fixed my annoying keyboard/mouse problems when sticky keys turned itself on. I did not even hit ok...just the X to get rid of the dialog box! But it was automatically turned on regardless. MS really should make it easier to turn these options off...at the very least! Because unchecking these boxes did not turn it off for me. I had to check and uncheck a bunch of stuff and then hold both of the shift keys down simultaneously before it actually reset. Among other random things I did while I was freaking out trying to turn these options off. And the current default should not be what it is (with shortcuts to these options turned on) but rather that a person should have to go into the options and select them instead. I mean, the majority of PC users are not going to be using these sticky, filter, and toggle key options. What were they thinking?! How annoying!! Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!

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