MS Office 2010 refuses to let go of the Swedish Language

Good question. I just installed the Spanish version of Office 2010 - big mistake as I now have the same problem as you. As far as I can see the keyboard shortcuts go with the UI (ribbon, menus) language. If you want English shortcuts you must install the English UI. The only way for you now to get the English UI is to purchase an English language pack.

If you (theoretically) start from zero, you have three options if you want to use English shortcuts:

1. Purchase Office in English. You get the UI in English and proofing tools (spellchecker etc) for English, French and Spanish. If that's all you need, problem solved!
2. Purchase Office in English and then purchase a language pack for your language.
3. Purchase Office in your language and then purchase an English language pack.

Both options 2 and 3 will give you the ability to set the UI into English, and use the proofing tools for various other languages. See the proofing tools you get with a language. You are only able to set the UI into the primary language of the Office edition or language packs you have.

Update: As of Office 2016, language packs are now free. You can download them from the Microsoft site.

I'm almost certain that there's not built-in way to change shortcuts in MS Office applications.

However, you can use AutoHotkey for this purpose.

The script

^a::
^f::
^s::
    WinGet, Process, ProcessName, A
    if(RegExMatch(Process, "^(WINWORD|EXCEL)\.EXE$"))
    {
       if(A_ThisHotKey = "^a")
           SendPlay, ^e
       if(A_ThisHotKey = "^f")
           SendPlay, ^b
       if(A_ThisHotKey = "^s")
           SendPlay, ^g
    }
    else
        SendPlay, %A_ThisHotKey%
return

How it works

• ^a::, specifies one of the hotkeys that run the script before the return statement, where ^ indicates the Ctrl key.

• WinGet, Process, ProcessName, A stores the active (A) window's process name in the variable Process.

• if(RegExMatch(Process, "^(WINWORD|EXCEL)\.EXE$")) {...} else ... checks if Process matches the regular expression, i.e., if it matches one of the strings WINWORD.EXE or EXCEL.EXE.

  • If so, the first block gets executed.

    • if(A_ThisHotKey = "^a") checks if the pressed hotkey is Ctrl + A.

      If it is, it simulates the key bombination Ctrl + E, which is the Portuguese hotkey to select all¹.

  • Otherwise, SendPlay, %A_ThisHotKey% simulates the key combination that was initially pressed.

    This way, other applications still behave as they should.

How to use

1. Download and install the latest version of AutoHotkey.

2. Save the above script as ms-office.ahk, using your favorite text editor.

3. Double-click the file to run the script.

4. If you wish, copy the script (or a link to it) in the Startup folder.

5. To add further MS Office applications, just modify the regular expression.

   To add PowerPoint, e.g., replace (WINWORD|EXCEL) by (WINWORD|EXCEL|POWERPNT).

6. To add further hotkeys, you have to modify two parts of the script.

   To add Ctrl + O (Open...), e.g., add the line ^o:: to the list at the very top add these lines inside the if block:

   if(A_ThisHotKey = "^o")
       SendPlay, ^a
   

¹ At least, I think it is. I took the hotkeys from my Spanish MS Office. Adjust if needed.