Apr 03 2021 01:52 PM
I have a new HP Elitebook laptop running Windows 10 pro with Office 365 that I downloaded last week. OS and Office are up to date.
I'm working on a huge analysis that I do every month and my cursor is acting really bizarre in Excel. The fill handle isn't working; when I click by the header of a column, the down arrow doesn't appear; I can't adjust column widths; it's very hard to select a whole row by clicking the numbers along the left side (keeps wanting to change row height unless I expand the row and then do it...)
Does anyone have any idea what's going on here? I'm super-frustrated!
I have checked the Options, Advanced, Editing Options, to ensure 'Enable fill handle and cell drag-and-drop' checkbox is selected. I have also made sure 'Formula - Calculation Options' is set to Automatic.
My mouse pointer still will not change to a 'move pointer'. Therefore, I am unable to use the Fill handle to copy a formula down a column.
I've checked that the spreadsheet is at 100%, so scaling shouldn't be an issue...
please help!!
Apr 06 2021 10:23 AM
Solution@donna140 Hi Donna. I was having the same issue, and oddly enough disconnecting my docking station from its power supply and re-plugging it back in fixed it for me. If you are using a docking station I would recommend trying that.
Apr 06 2021 10:39 AM
@Smartin92Thanks so much for your response. I actually did that on Sunday (as a total last resort) and it worked! Really appreciate your response. This was an incredibly frustrating experience.
May 06 2021 10:14 AM
Jul 20 2021 11:45 AM
@Smartin92 Ok, I thought it was crazy to just detach my keyboard from my surface tablet. I tried a hundred ways to get my curser back. Your simple trick worked. Thank You
Aug 26 2021 06:24 AM
I am so impressed and thankful I had to comment. I too work with large spreadsheets, i dropped my mouse and although not broken was having the same issues that were really starting to impact my work. I had previously tried everything restarting, reloading drivers etc. I kept searching for answers then came across this post fixed! Many thanks
Nov 02 2021 01:37 PM
@Smartin92 many thanks for this solution! It's one of those things that only happened at one of my 3 work locations/stations, and I never noticed it at the other 2. So when it started happening again here I thought I was losing it. The effects are subtle enough to be frustrating but not completely stop you from working. Oh the small things that enable us to do great things that we don't appreciate!
Nov 08 2021 11:11 AM
This worked for me, thanks!
Jun 10 2022 10:09 AM
Aug 10 2022 01:50 AM
Aug 22 2022 08:25 AM
@Smartin92 This worked for me. Plugging and unplugging the dock, I was able to duplicate the problem. Once I power cycled the docking station, everything restored to normal.
Just adding this in case it helps others.
Aug 16 2023 04:45 AM
Although this did not make logical sense especially when the trackpad exhibited the same behavior, I power cycled the port replicator (aka docking station) and wonder of wonders this trick actually worked.
Thanks for the quick (and easy) solution.
Also, thanks for not posting a plethora of non-workable solutions.
Oct 12 2023 08:44 AM
@rkoelker My first time using this forum, so not sure how to go about. I use excel on my desktop mostly amd the cursor keeps "disappearing". I see that many have "undocked" thier laptops and fixed the problem. However, I have had to close out and reenter my workbooks frequently in order to regenrate the cursor. Obviously, this is not normal and very frustrating. How can I keep the cursor "active"?
Thank you
Oct 23 2023 05:41 AM
If undocking and redocking resolves the issue, it would most likely be a driver issue with the dock.
For your particular problem, have you tried a repair on Excel from within the APPS?
Also, check this link:
Excel - Office 365 - Cursor disappears and cannot select cells - Microsoft Community
Good Luck
Apr 06 2021 10:23 AM
Solution@donna140 Hi Donna. I was having the same issue, and oddly enough disconnecting my docking station from its power supply and re-plugging it back in fixed it for me. If you are using a docking station I would recommend trying that.