Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Determining if Num Lock is On.
When you are creating a macro for use in Word, you may want to determine if the Num Lock key is enabled. You can figure out this information by using the Information property with the wdNumLock argument. The technique is shown in the following code:
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: 
If Selection.Information(wdNumLock) Then
Print "The Num Lock key is on"
Else
Print "The Num Lock key is off"
End If
This, obviously, is not a complete macro. You would use this code within your larger macro, and then adapt it to what you need done depending on whether the NumLock key is enabled or not. The Information property returns either True or False depending on the condition of the key. This makes it very handy for using in the If ... End If construct, as shown.
Note:
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1204) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Determining if Num Lock is On.
Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!
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2017-05-07 15:25:41
GeordieLad
Erik:
My sentiments entirely! When I saw the title of the tip I thought perhaps I'd missed something - or is there something special when creating macros?
2017-05-06 22:48:17
Erik Eilertsen
Er, is my computer unique? It has an illumination on the Num Lock key to tell me if it is on or not....? (I am a bit of a tyro here but...???)
2015-03-27 10:51:41
Greg
Unfortunately, this is not working. Both this statement and also Application.Numlock keep returning TRUE whether the NumLock state is true or false. I even tried the API calls suggested in one of the Microsoft articles. No luck. That also keeps returning TRUE every time. My computer simply cannot reliably determine the state of the key. I'm using Word 2010 in a Windows 7 environment.
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