Forum Discussion
Cannot edit conditional formatting formula.
I am unable to edit a conditional formula. If I have a formula =OR(B1>C1,C1>D1,D1>E1) and I want to change the formula to be =OR(B1>=C1,C1>=D1,D1>=E1) I cannot put the cursor after the ">" nor I...
Afraid you are not understanding the OP. This is a real software bug. I have the same thing happening with conditional formatting using formulas. On a sheet of even moderate complexity, with conditional formatting formulas applied to whole column ranges, the formula edit text field will at some point not accept mouse clicks any more. This means you cannot position the cursor into formulas to make adjustments.
If you close and reopen excel, you can get ONE mouse click to edit ONE formula. Next time you open conditional formatting, you again can't click in the field and must save and restart excel again to be able to edit exactly one more.
This is especially difficult since despite ANY logic saying it's a good thing to do, the left and right arrows are hijacked at all times regardless of UI focus, so you cannot cursor in to edit parts of the formula with a keyboard. (A bad design choice i won't get into here.)
Bottom line: This is not the users fault, it's a real bug that bot past Microsoft QA.
For anyone suffering this bug: CTRL-S to save, then close excel, then reopen the workseet. You'll probably be able to click the mouse one time to make a conditional formatting formula edit before the bug arrives. Rinse and repeat until your sanity wears out.
If you close and reopen excel, you can get ONE mouse click to edit ONE formula. Next time you open conditional formatting, you again can't click in the field and must save and restart excel again to be able to edit exactly one more.
This is especially difficult since despite ANY logic saying it's a good thing to do, the left and right arrows are hijacked at all times regardless of UI focus, so you cannot cursor in to edit parts of the formula with a keyboard. (A bad design choice i won't get into here.)
Bottom line: This is not the users fault, it's a real bug that bot past Microsoft QA.
For anyone suffering this bug: CTRL-S to save, then close excel, then reopen the workseet. You'll probably be able to click the mouse one time to make a conditional formatting formula edit before the bug arrives. Rinse and repeat until your sanity wears out.
Thank you, completely agree. This is a bug and I have the same experience. I get one "edit session", so I can change the formulas of several conditional formatting, as long as I dont close the "Rules manager". When I close the rules manager and reopen, clicking in the formula is no longer formula and effectively I have to rewrite the entirity of the formula and pray I dont make an error.