Forum Discussion
Excel will not let me click into cells or incorrect cell is selected randomly
Hi, This is an ongoing issue that I've been having for years across platforms, computers, versions of excel and workbooks. Basicially, one of two things happen: 1-I click on a cell but nothi...
I was having issues that seem to match yours. After pulling out many hairs, I stumbled on something that seems to have fixed it for me (or at least made it less frequent. I "fixed" it a while ago and haven't seen the problem since.)
I'm using Win 11 on a Dell laptop with a touchpad. Not sure if any of that is important.
I find that I frequently use the touchpad "scroll wheel" function (sliding two fingers) to scroll the worksheet. And this seemed to lead to the problem. I also use the same method to scroll in some other program that loaded at the same time--switch back and forth between the two. And often I just hover over the other program to scroll without actually activating the other program.
I thought this last behavior might be to blame, so I went to Windows Settings/mouse to turn off the "Scroll inactive windows when hovering over them" setting.
To my surprise, it was already set to "Off". Yet I was using the feature! It would do what I wanted it to do. Something was wrong somewhere. So I tried turning the Settings feature "On".
Since then, I've had no issues with Excel showing the wrong active cell / not letting me edit the cell I want.
I hope this helps you. I know how frustrating this issue is!
RichHolton thanks for the suggestion, interested and pleased to hear you have a solution. For me, "Scroll inactive windows when hovering over them" was already "On" but I might try toggling a few other mouse options, previously I've only really tried the touchpad ones I think.
Very odd if this has solved it for you.
@Chris Hammond - please review further with this info?
- I'm not new to this problem, just new to getting so frustrated I Googled for a solution, ultimately resulting in even greater frustration (as I'm sure everyone on here has experienced) of the abject absence thereof (and the deeply abiding sense there is no interest from Microsoft in a solution. This seems to be happening more and more regularly these days... there will be a clear and distinct issue with a software product, but it's still too "niche" for the company to dedicate any resources toward. Then, when this frustrated customer base ultimately identifies the problem FOR them, they don't do anything with the information. Looks like I'll be relying on the workaround for years to come.
(note: also came with Win 11, and I also have dual monitors - and there was far more extensive literature out there at how much Windows (especially Win 11) struggles with dual monitors. For example, the 2 I'm using are identical in physical size but differ in resolution. Windows has no way "understanding" this, it seems; so I'm forced to align them strange in Settings, then resulting in strange movement aberrations when dragging my cursor from one to another in an Extended Desktop environment. And, like the Excel issue, there's a strong "welp, tough sh*t" sentiment in terms of fixing what seems so simple an issue (though I'm no software engineer, so I could be understating the complexity).
Fingers crossed they patch it up soon... or EVER, I guess. I plan on using Office 2021 for a long, long time since it's the last non-365 edition they're releasing and I'll fight the subscription model with every ounce of strength I can muster.Coleeo2006 Good comments, thanks for sharing. This is indeed what happens with a monopoly sometimes; unethical, cynical, profiteering business practices where customer support is often just sneeringly neglected.
In this case, it's not one of the dozens of more minor (but highly irritating) bugs which some of us report on Feedback Hub regularly (with no resolution in the vast majority of cases), this is a serious problem affecting efficiency and quality of work every single day. It's absolutely despicable.
