When I select a cell in Excel I cannot deselect it. Ideas?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Good day,

When I select, or click on, a cell in the spreadsheet, I cannot get it to
release. I hit escape, I try to enter text, I try to click on another part of
the spreadsheet, and I try, and fail, to right click. But the cell remains
selected and if I move the cursor it drags and highlights other cells.

If I go outside the spreadsheet I can select help or one of the other
choices on the bar but I remain locked to that one cell in the spreadsheet.

I have to go to Task Manager to kill the program to get out of it.

I received Microsoft updates recently, within the past day or two.
I ran a Macafee virus check today. Updated my signatures yesterday, 9/15/06.
I ran a spyware check today.

Have I selected some feature inadvertently that I need to deselect?

Any guidance would be appreciated.

thanks,

john
 
Hi,

I had this problem a number of times in the middle of long edits of big
spreadsheets and ONCE accidentally found the way out, which of course I
can no longer remember. The problem seemed to occur as a result of a
failed drag-and-drop, which failed due to premature release of the left
mouse button while dragging. Can happen when you have a hiccough.

Now I'm trying (with a blank sheet open and all others closed!) to
re-create the problem, which was indeed something to do with a latching
selection of some kind. But it's not the right-hand mouse button and
it's not the wheel...

best regards,
Nick Cory
14656 Brieselang,
nr. Berlin, Germany
 
Do you see "EXT" on the status bar?

If so, hit F8 key to get out of extended mode.

If using a wheelie mouse, try tapping the roller up and down a few times.



Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP


Good day,

When I select, or click on, a cell in the spreadsheet, I cannot get it to
release. I hit escape, I try to enter text, I try to click on another part of
the spreadsheet, and I try, and fail, to right click. But the cell remains
selected and if I move the cursor it drags and highlights other cells.

If I go outside the spreadsheet I can select help or one of the other
choices on the bar but I remain locked to that one cell in the spreadsheet.

I have to go to Task Manager to kill the program to get out of it.

I received Microsoft updates recently, within the past day or two.
I ran a Macafee virus check today. Updated my signatures yesterday, 9/15/06.
I ran a spyware check today.

Have I selected some feature inadvertently that I need to deselect?

Any guidance would be appreciated.

thanks,

john
Click to expand...

Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP
 
Just a stab in the dark, but when I get this kind of problem it is usually a
keyboard key-lock issue. Try using the Ctrl and/or the Shift keys while
clicking on another cell. I have usually been able to get control back doing
this, but not sure what the actual cause... my guess is a flakey keyboard
and/or driver.

Good luck,

TK
 
Hi

Thanks, Gord.

I searched the Excel Help for items like "F8", "extended mode", cell
selection and so on but could not find any information about this
function. An undocumented feature? But useful, when searching for the
corner cell of a very large range, to be able to hit F8 to toggle the
extended mode.

Good that there are MVPs out there.

I wonder how the application got into extended mode in the first place,
right in the middle of an edit...


kind regards
Nick Cory
14656 Brieselang
nr. Berlin, Germany
 
I will take this as a "it worked".

Not an undocumented feature.

In Help type "ext" to get some info on "selecting cells on a worksheet" which
mentions the extended mode and F8

OR "keyboard shortcuts" to see what the F8 key provides.

Another shortcut I like is hitting SHIFT + F8 to get into ADD mode.

This allows you to select non-contiguous areas without using CTRL + Click.


Gord
 
Excel Bug - selecting all cells

Hi guys, I found how to fix this annoying bug! (Even though this problem was raised 3 years ago? xD)
(But this is for everyone else that may get this problem)
For some reason if you go to the page setup and change the margins from right and left to anything else, it fixes it :D Well.. it did for me anyway :)

Hope this helped! :)

=?Utf-8?B?SkxHV2hpeg==?= said:
And if you find the answer, please post it back here!

"John789" wrote:

> Good day,
>
> When I select, or click on, a cell in the spreadsheet, I cannot get it to
> release. I hit escape, I try to enter text, I try to click on another part of
> the spreadsheet, and I try, and fail, to right click. But the cell remains
> selected and if I move the cursor it drags and highlights other cells.
>
> If I go outside the spreadsheet I can select help or one of the other
> choices on the bar but I remain locked to that one cell in the spreadsheet.
>
> I have to go to Task Manager to kill the program to get out of it.
>
> I received Microsoft updates recently, within the past day or two.
> I ran a Macafee virus check today. Updated my signatures yesterday, 9/15/06.
> I ran a spyware check today.
>
> Have I selected some feature inadvertently that I need to deselect?
>
> Any guidance would be appreciated.
>
> thanks,
>
> john
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I recently had the same issue, even when I tried to open a new workbook. I managed to regain control by clicking on the middle (roller) mouse button. Good thing too, I was ready to reinstall excel.
 
The only thing to work for me is to paste the selected text into a free part of the spreadsheet. Then delete the pasted taste and start again.
 
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