Excel puzzle - can't type into cell, exhausted support steps, need a tech wizard !
Excel desktop app on Mac won't let me edit cells (Word is fine) already tried a full uninstall/reinstall with support MacBook Air, macOS Tahoma 26.2 - Microsoft 365 Premium subscription - Excel for Mac, Version 16.111.1 Problem: In the Excel desktop app I can navigate the sheet and select/highlight cells, but I cannot type into a cell or into the formula bar Already tried with a Microsoft support agent: 1. Confirmed subscription is active 2. Removed the Office license from Keychain Access 3. Fully removed the Office apps, emptied the Trash. 4. Reinstalled Office from account.microsoft.com 5. Result: Excel still won't let me type in a cell or in the formula bar, even in a new book 6. "Allow editing directly in cells" enabled. 8. Confirmed the keyboard itself is fine: Cmd+C works inside Excel, types normally in TextEdit 9. Opened Excel in safe mode (held Shift while launching) and creating a new blank workbook — issue persisted. Microsoft support agent confirmed this isn't a subscription/activation issue and isn't a general keyboard/OS issue, since Word, TextEdit, and Excel's own search box all accept input normally — the problem is specifically isolated to typing into a cell or the formula bar in Excel. Any ideas on what else could be blocking keyboard input specifically in Excel's grid/formula bar (e.g. a stuck editing mode, add-in, or accessibility permission specific to Excel) would be ! VERY ! appreciated.
GLSU Excel add-in fails to load after Office update from Version 2607 to 2608
Our Excel add-in, Process Runner GLSU , fails to load after Microsoft Office updates from Version 2607 to Version 2608. This started August 17, 2026 and is actively growing in scope. Error messages: Excel: Cannot run the macro 'onLoad' VBA: System Error &H80004005 (-2147467259). Unspecified error VBA: Compile error in hidden module: ThisWorkbook Has anyone encountered similar issue with their own custom add-on. If yes, any pointers to fix it. We are seeking help on priority. Thanks, Vrushali Pawale, Sr. Manager, Insightsoftware.
copy and paste a range of cells and keep formula eferences
My goal is to copy a range of cells and have all the formulas in the copied range of cells pasted into a new location keeping the original formula references. I.e, I will have two identical data in two sets of cells on a sheet. E.g. one of the cells in the range to be copied might have a formula similar to, "='sheet 2'!K75". I wish for that formula to be pasted into the destination cells and be "='sheet 2'!K75".Excel repair strips all formulas from large .xlsm after March 2026 security update (KB5002849)
Hi everyone, I'm a master's student at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. My thesis is a health economic cost-effectiveness model built entirely in Excel — a gender-neutral static Markov cohort model with 34 worksheets. The file has become completely unusable after what I believe is the March 2026 security update, and I'm running out of options. The file: - .xlsm, ~46.5 MB compressed, ~370 MB uncompressed XML - 34 worksheets, four of which are 73–92 MB each (Markov trace sheets) - ~65,000 formulas, ~33,500 shared formulas - Heavy use of LET, LAMBDA, XLOOKUP, XMATCH, CHOOSECOLS, TAKE, MAP, SWITCH - 771 defined names including ~147 hidden _xlpm.* LET/LAMBDA variable placeholders - Stored on OneDrive via KI SharePoint, 34,000+ AutoSave revisions - Contains VBA (vbaProject.bin) The problem: Every time I open the file — on Excel for Mac or Excel Online — the repair engine triggers and strips ALL formulas from every sheet, replacing them with cached values. The file shrinks from ~46.5 MB to ~26 MB. Clicking "No" on the repair dialog just closes the file. There is no way to bypass the repair. What I've verified: - Extracted the .xlsm as a ZIP and confirmed all formulas (<f> tags) are fully intact in the raw XML - Libr€Office Calc can read the formulas but cannot execute them (Err:508 — no LET/LAMBDA support) - Removed 158 broken named ranges (#REF! and #NAME? entries) from workbook.xml and rebuilt the archive — repair engine still strips all formulas - The issue reproduces on every OneDrive version history copy (up until I largely used LET formulas in my sheets - but there is still 1,5months of changes lost) - The issue reproduces on both Excel for Mac and Excel Online Suspected cause: The March 10, 2026 security update (KB5002849) patched CVE-2026-26108, a heap overflow in Excel's file parsing during loading. The same patch was applied to Office Online Server (KB5002846). I believe the tightened parsing now rejects or flags my file's large XML structures as potentially malicious, triggering the repair engine to strip all formulas. This is consistent with: - The known _xlfn. namespace bug on Excel for Mac (reported by multiple users on Microsoft Q&A since late 2024) - The timing - the file was working before this update flawlessly up until March 16th - The fact that Excel Online is also affected (same server-side patch) My questions to the community: 1. Has anyone else experienced formula stripping on large workbooks after the March 2026 update? 2. Is there a way to bypass the repair engine on Mac, or roll back the specific security patch without downgrading all of Office? 3. Would opening this file on Windows Excel (pre-patch or current) preserve the formulas? If anyone with a Windows PC would be willing to try opening and re-saving this file, I would be incredibly grateful. 4. Is there now effectively a size/complexity ceiling for Excel workbooks that makes models like this unviable? If so - should I be migrating this to another environment (R, Python, etc.) going forward? This file represents six months of thesis work. The formulas are all there in the XML. I just need Excel to stop destroying them on open. Any help, pointers, or similar experiences would be hugely appreciated. Thank you, Florian Boschek
Unable to stop values field from calculating in pivot tables
Hello. I’ve created a pivot table where all the other fields are set up correctly. However I am unable to just include data in the “values” without it performing a calculation. Tried multiple times to select “no calculation” but doesn’t seem to work. Device is MacBook Pro. Excel 2016
One time purchase 2022 Office Home Edition failed to activate
I bought a 2022 Office Home Edition on a one time basis in 2022 and installed on my Mac which has worked well over the year. Then, suddenly on 13 July this year, its Excel disallowed me to save and edit, saying I need to subscribe Office 365, etc in order to activate. I don't know what is going on. Can this be fixed?One time purchase 2022 Office Home Edition failed to activate
I bought a 2022 Office Home Edition on a one time basis in 2022 and installed on my Mac which has worked well over the year. Then, suddenly on 13 July this year, its Excel disallowed me to save and edit, saying I need to subscribe Office 365, etc in order to activate. I don't know what is going on. Can this be fixed?
Is XML in Power Query is broken on macOS
Hello, XML from Power Query seems to have broken after update (July 2nd 2026). I tried this on several Macs To recreate just create a new file. Power Query -> XML -> Choose any xml file For me it doesn’t work. It keeps loading endlessly Am I the only one? Is there a workaround? Thank you
