Forum Discussion
Excel selects wrong cell
Hello,
I am here to report on what seems to be a common issue...
After working for a few minutes in excel, when I go to click on a cell, the wrong cell actually gets selected, and it is usually several cells above or below the cell my mouse is hovering over.
I sometimes have success in saving, closing and reopening the book, but not always.
Excel Office 365 version, updated on schedule, as always.
Having the same issue every day and multiple times per day. And just like you, everything is fully updated. Based on a Google search, this seems to be a widespread issue and one that has been out there for quite some time. One would hope Microsoft would provide a fix.
Cheers!
I reported it to their help desk, and got an email back from them requesting a copy of the workbook it happens most frequently in. I did send it, with all client data wiped.
Haven't heard a peep from them in over a month. 🙂
Wanted to get on the record with reporting, Im having the same issues with the pointer attempting to select the cell I have it on, and the one above gets selected when i click, very irritating. Only way to get it back to normal seems to be to close the program and open it back up from scratch. like I said very annoying and even more annoying that there has been no response from MS for a month...Come On Guys! You can afford the staff to respond! Sheesh, at least pretend to care?!?
- Same issue over here. It destroys my soul.
HandFoodler This happens to me CONSTANTLY and between two different laptops (Lenovo). Any time I use the trackpad to scroll left or right about 80% of the time I can no longer select the correct cell until I zoom in or out with the little nav bar at the bottom left to "reset". Its infuriating. And has been an issue for a at least 2 years.
I have this issue as well and found that it is the zoom that is causing this to happen. If you change to 100%, you will be able to click on the right cell.
kaseygoh yes that works. For one click, before the issue re-occurs. Then you can use the laptop's trackpad instead of the mouse, and that works for one or a few clicks before the position gets out of sync again. Then you can resize the window, and that may work too for a few clicks. Once you've done all these workarounds and Excel is truly confused, the only way to recover is restarting the application.
- That worked!! Thank you!!!!
Experiencing issues where Excel selects the wrong cell, especially after working for some time, can be frustrating. There are a few things you can try to troubleshoot and resolve this issue:
- Check for Updates:
- Ensure that your Office 365 version is up to date. Sometimes, issues like this are addressed in updates.
- Excel in Safe Mode:
- Try opening Excel in Safe Mode. To do this, press Win + R to open the Run dialog, type excel /safe, and press Enter. In Safe Mode, Excel will load with minimal settings, and this can help determine if the issue is caused by an add-in or external factor.
- Disable Add-ins:
- Disable Excel add-ins one by one to see if any specific add-in is causing the problem. Go to File -> Options -> Add-ins. Manage the Excel Add-ins and disable them one at a time, restarting Excel after each one, to see if the issue persists.
- Mouse and Touchpad Drivers:
- Ensure that your mouse and touchpad drivers are up to date. Outdated or incompatible drivers can sometimes cause issues with cursor movement.
- Graphics Driver:
- Update your graphics driver. An outdated or incompatible graphics driver can also cause display-related issues.
- Excel Options:
- Go to File -> Options -> Advanced.
- Scroll down to the "Display" section.
- Check or uncheck the "Disable hardware graphics acceleration" option to see if it makes a difference.
- Check for System Resource Issues:
- Check your computer's RAM and CPU usage while working in Excel. If your system is running low on resources, it might impact Excel's performance.
- Windows Update:
- Ensure that your Windows operating system is up to date. Sometimes, issues related to system interactions can be resolved with Windows updates.
- Reinstall Office:
- As a last resort, you might consider reinstalling Microsoft Office to ensure that all program files are in good order.
Before making significant changes, it's a good practice to back up your important Excel files. If the issue persists, you may want to consider reaching out to Microsoft Support for further assistance, as they can provide specific guidance based on your system configuration. The text and steps were edited with the help of AI.
My answers are voluntary and without guarantee!
Hope this will help you.
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This will help all forum participants.
- Please, everyone in the thread, make sure you have reported it! Hopefully if they have enough official reports (this isn't an official report, btw), they will take it seriously and work toward fixing it.
If you don't know how to make the report, ask and I will gladly guide you.
I'm losing patience in waiting for an update from Microsoft and dealing with this "fun" glitch, and my mouse is the one I'm taking that frustration out on.HandFoodler if you could drop a link that'd be great. Will definitely report.
- Sure, so I don't have a link, but there are two options within excel itself.
1. On the "file" tab at the bottom, there is a link for "Feedback". Click "I don't like something". A box should pop up, where you can report the issue.
2. Use the "Help" tab in excel, which will show a few options. I've done both "Contact Support" and "Feedback." Contact support forces you to first describe your problem and search their "suggested articles". So don't go that route. Click "feedback".
Someone contacted me within a couple days to ask for more details, and then asked me to send a wiped version of my workbook. Who knows if they ever looked at it?
But maybe, if we flood them, it will get their attention.
My issue fix if I remove the bold from the font of data in excel
- If you have a touch screen, it may help to disable it. Worked for me.
Still seems to make sense for Microsoft to provide a fix...- Excellent suggestion! I will try it and let you know
