Forum Discussion
Unable to deselect in excel
How can I go from deselecting perfectly yesterday to double selecting today!?
45 Replies
Hi, does anyone have solution for this? I'm using the latest version of Excel on my new Mac, but the deselect feature doesn't seem to work. For the whole experience, I feel like Microsoft isn’t very Mac friendly😔 Any idea why?
I also have this problem and it is making using excel quite difficult. Does anyone have any idea on a solution?
- It is October 3rd of 2022, 4 years after this bug was first reported, and it is still not fixed. I've encountered this bug after updating to Windows 11. It was fine before updating. Can this please be repaired immediately? It's been years and I have seen from the comments that it has been popping up repeatedly, even after a fix was pushed. The Ctrl Deselect function is crucial to how I work with Excel, and not having it is costing me time I really don't have much of to begin with.
This is my current build information.
Microsoft® Excel® 2016 MSO (Version 2209 Build 16.0.15629.20152) 64-bitThere is VBA code I wrote that "unselects".
You need a macro button on the QAT to call it ormy preferred method of adding an item to the Cell right-click menu to call it.
The code...
'---
Sub UnselectActiveArea()
On Error GoTo PoorChoice
Nothing Left to Lose
If (Not SheetIsReady) Then Exit Sub
Dim Rng As Excel.Range
Dim FullRange As Excel.Range
If Excel.Selection.Areas.Count > 1 Then
For Each Rng In Excel.Selection.Areas
If Application.Intersect(ActiveCell, Rng) Is Nothing Then
If FullRange Is Nothing Then
Set FullRange = Rng
Else
Set FullRange = Application.Union(FullRange, Rng)
End If
End If
Next
FullRange.Select
FullRange.Areas(FullRange.Areas.Count).Cells(1, 1).Activate
Else
Excel.Selection.Cells(1, 1).Select
End If
Set FullRange = Nothing
Exit Sub
PoorChoice:
Beep
End SubFunction SheetIsReady() As Boolean
Nothing Left to Lose
If (VBA.TypeName(Excel.Selection) = "Range") Then
SheetIsReady = (Not Excel.Selection.Parent.ProtectContents)
End If
End Function'---
'Nothing Left to Lose
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Au8Lyt79SOuhZw2MCH7_7MuLj04?e=sAwbHU
(free excel programs)
- This is not a resolution.
no, it hasn't.
its "resolved" if you downgrade to the Office 365 spyware nsa pos.
Its simple blackmail, in an attempt to force everyone onto 365 or to pay for a full 2019, just like they've been doing with Win10. Its their modus operandi, to get everyone off of programs which don't own and steal your data and come preloaded with NSA Backdoors & methods for collecting all of your work.
This is an Office16pro issue, in no way has this been resolved, whatsoever.
I totally agree with you! It's an Office2016Pro issue and a Microsoft issue...
They simply disabled the feature to get the users to apply for office365 or an upgrade to 2019.
Both options are not an alternative for me!
They should simply enable the feature again and everything is fine!
But they do NOT want to do this!
Shame on you Microsoft. No one would have been complaining if the feature would never have been available. But it was, although it was an accident!
This is a feature that's always been apart of Excel.
They disabled it in 2016, making it just darken the cell selection until it turns completely black, which has no useful functionality whatsoever, just to do something with the ctrl+click function they purposely removed.
It was removed to force people to downgrade from 2016 professional to the Office 365 spyware which collects your data and uploads everything to their servers, or else force you to pay for Office 2019 professional, which has the same Office365 functionality & Licensing permissions built in.Its highly unscrupulous and dishonest, but is most definitely par for the course for Microsoft since their Windows 10 NSAshareware.
It's akin to making your right mouse button put a big red blob on your document unless you pay Microsoft more money to remove it.
On the Bright side, both Apache OpenOffice and LibreOffice are both developing rather nicely, and have become quite robust & highly viable Microsoft product replacements.
If you are using Office365, you may as well just switch over to GoogleOffice at this point, at least they're transparent with their data & intellectual property theft.
Is it more likely that Microsoft has just run out of ideas to entice you to upgrade to 2019, so they just break basic existing functionality?
Or is it more likely that they are as desperate for everyone to get on Office365 as they are to get everyone on Windows10, and NEED you off of the legacy ware because they need your information, because they've become mere mass data-collection spyware jointly operated with the NSA.
They've already done with Windows 10 what Apple did long ago for the NSA with their OS's. They've also long been attempting to turn to a Google model of selling User Psychographic data for profits.
Google Drive is set up with similar carefully programmed shenanigans which simply expose all your data to nearly anyone, which makes it ok for them to use it themselves and give the NSA backdoors to your information as well.
and getting you on Office365 is as integral to their schemes as getting you on Windows10 was.
I was on the phone with Microsoft Support for 3 straight weeks, most of the day, most of the week, trying to get them to stop secretly upgrading my Office 2019 Professional Plus license to a join Office 365 one they didn't think I'd notice. After 3 weeks and 20 different scorched earth fresh installs, and after reaching the very top echelon of the Tech Support elite levels that they won't even admit exists, and after those elite top techs started poking around and asking questions across teams, I was immediately dropped without a word. And I posed this scenario to them as well. For sure this is exactly what is happening.
Hello,
Are there users with the latest updates for whom the deselect works?
Thank you.
Hi,
I recently installed the latest updates...
Still no deselection feature available.
Version 1812 Build 11126.20266 Click&Run, monthly channel
Is there anybody who can use the feature successfully?
When will it be available to Excel 2016 users again?
I have no Office 360 but Professional Plus...
Sorry to hear your having problems with this feature.
It is fully enabled for all subscription users and Office 2019 perpetual.
Office Pro Plus is part of Office 365, this is why your able to be on the monthly channel.
Your build should have this feature enabled. Can you DM me a screenshot of the account settings page in Excel? This will help me try and troubleshoot what is possible going on.
Thanks,
Olaf
Hello,
Any chance that it will get fixed?
Why do big companies keep trying to fix what it is not broken?
I am in the same boat, this feature worked last week and not this week? I'm confused how different users have this problem starting at different times (for some people this started much earlier than September)
Hi!
We had a user mention this bug today -- but we have Office Professional 2016 (VLSC version) and not the O365 version.
Is this fix coming out in September's Patch Tuesday releases? Or was this supposed to be in the August updates?
Thanks!
So, why isn't this fixed yet. I was able to use it Friday, but today I am not.
I just ran an update and still nothing. Please....... I need this feature.
Doesnt work for me too on my computer at work. It was working last week. Really disturbing...
We have found an issue with the deselect feature and decided to temporarily disable it. As soon as the fix has been pushed out to all users we will enable the feature again. This should be in the next couple of weeks.
Thanks
Olaf
Olaf Hubel Why hasn't this issue been fixed?
When is this going to be resolved for Office 2016?
I just downloaded the last update a minute ago and I am still not able to deselect in Excel. Unacceptable!
I generally like Excel, but to have a basic function disappear overnight and still not be restored months later.... no. Plus, now I'm in fear of ever updating again, because... who knows what the next update will break?
I'm *thisclose* to switching to LibreOffice and never buying any version of MS Office again, and that option is looking better and better all the time...
Sorry for all the confusion around this.
The Deselect feature is an Office 365 (Home, Business, ….) and Office 2019 feature.
This means it does not work in Office 2016. We had a bug where it was turned on for a very short time by mistake in Office 2016. We have fixed this bug, this happend at the same time we also had to disable the feature for a month in Office 365. After we fixed all open issues we turned it back on for Office 365.
The deselect feature never existed in Office 2016 (or any other older version). We created this feature in late 2017.
I hope this answers your question.
Olaf
I am currently having this issue. I have the same version of Excel on two different laptops. On one the deselect option works, the other laptop however does not work
- Are you logged into Office with an Office 365 account on both devices? If so can you please sent a frown (click on file, feedback, I don't like something). Please mention my name in the text (so I can search for it). This will help us troubleshoot any possible issues.
Perhaps that's related to the bug Olaf Hubel mentioned more close to the bottom of discussion here https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Excel-Blog/How-to-deselect-cells-from-selected-ranges-in-Excel/bc-p/204840#M223
By the way, I checked and have same behaviour as you are
Yes, looks like a bug
- doesn't work on the build 1806.10228.20062
- no problems on 1807.10308.20006
How to resolve it? Can procedure available?
