Microsoft Excel 2007 highlights multiple cells

[biz_kid1]

I have an ongoing issue...various spreadsheets (none in particular...could be one or two or all of them) will start taking on this behavior for no apparent reason: when you click an individual cell, it highlights that cell plus usually two to the right of it. Reformatting by using the format painter from an unaffected cell (if you can find one at that point that hasn't been affected) usually corrects it but it's time-consuming to manually go back and reformat each affected cell. What causes this behavior and how can I stop it? Or is there an easier fix for it?

Have found related posts @ Microsoft, but MS apparently has not yet acknowledged that this is, in fact, an "issue":
Discussion Groups Home Discussion Groups Home

My suggested workarounds are as follows:
1. Try tapping the wheel of scroll mouse, if applicable.
2. Try changing the page view from Page Layout to any other View option: View tab > Normal
3. Close the spreadsheet, open again and see if behavior still exists.
4. Close Excel, open the spreadsheet and see if behavior still exists.
5. If cell still selects multiple cells, up keyboard up/down/left/right arrows to navigate away and then back to cell, then click in the formula bar to edit
6. If it says EXT or Extend Selection in the bottom left corner of Excel, then it is in Extended mode - try tapping the F8 key once
7. Try zooming out then clicking the cell selection again: View tab > Zoom > Edit % in Custom field > Click OK

Users are running Windows XP Pro SP2. TIA!

 

[KSoD]

Hello,

I am sorry but i can not give a answer becuase i can not replicate the issue. So either this is something that is only with your machine or something else wrong. Cause i can not recreate this issue in order to try and find a resolution. I have search Microsoft.com and Google and the only thing i have found is your various posts across the net.

As for your searches i found only 1 other person who has even mentioned it. That does not make for a bug or a issue in Microsoft eyes. 2 people who come across a issue does not make it a issue.

In every case no one has a answer. We can not provide a answer as we can not reproduce the problem. I have gone back to opening spread sheets from 1997 and still can not get this issue to come up.

I have tried in XP, XP SP1, XP SP2 and XP SP3. I have also tried in Vista. All via VM Ware. Still no luck reproducing the issue. I am sorry but the only advice i can give is to uninstall Office with something like Revo Uninstaller to get rid of the Registry entries. From there reinstall with just Office 2007 and not upgrade from a previous version.

Cheers,
Mak

 

[biz_kid1]

Perhaps I should add that I am supporting a company and we have numerous users this occurs on, but only 2007. I suspect it is a driver related issue but cannot confirm. Just because not everyone stops to post doesn't mean there aren't users out there it affects, and MS doesn't acknowledge and correct all its issues.

 

[Lexluethar]

I use MS Excel 2007 every day for about on average for about 4 hours. My job mostly entails creating statistical reports and analysis in Excel. So I mess with excel every day in a lot of different ways. I've never encoutered this issue in 07 or 03. I would totally uninstall Office, then reinstall and update it with the latest patches/sp.

The ONLY thing i can think of is you've saved over the template ('normal.xlsx' or something like that) that Excel uses to open every new document. So whenever you open a new document the same issue reoccures. I'm thinking it is a merged cell issue, and it has propigated itself in new documents because the template has been saved over with these merged cells.

If this is occuring just on a few computers (or in documents that a particular computer created) then you would need to 'hunt' down which computer created these files and just resave the template on that one. To be safe you could do it on all computers, but this is not very feasible if you have 25+ computers.

hope this helps, let me know and i'll keep thinking of other possibilities.

 

[KSoD]

Biz Kid,

You dont seem to understand. Even 1 full company does not make it a issue. You could have 10 companies and that still does not constitute a issue.

Until the issue can be reprodeuced with minimal effort and by everyone, does it constitute a issue with Microsoft which will require a fix worked on and put out.

So while it is limited to your company. Does not make it a issue. I know of people at Kodak who this does not happen to. I know of people even at microsoft who can not reproduce this. So sorry but this does not constitue something that they would address with a patch.

I know how the porcess works with them. I have been working with them for several years doing bug testing and such. If i can not even reproduce it with a simple few tests running stuff from way back in 1997 then it is limited to your machines.

If it really was a major issue. It would be on the newsgroups more than once. Microsoft acknowledges many issues. That deserve it. Something limited to 1 company does not deserve it. I am sorry but that is the truth.

So you can say what you want about me or their process but this is how it is done. I have not even seen this issue in the Beta versions. So it has to be something specific to your machines or your network. Until you can isolate what that is. It wont be fixed.

Cheers,
Mak

 

[biz_kid1]

Mak,

I completely understand and agree to an extent. But if MS doesn't know the issue exists, then they don't know to address it. Or they choose to ignore it until it becomes a bigger concern, IF it gets that far, or ignore it completely. I have had this issue occur to me at home as well (unintentionally), so it's not limited to just the company's setup. But when the CIO of the company is also affected by it, and desires I pursue it, then I do so!

While researching the issue, I did run across others experiencing the same issue (outside of our company), so we aren't the only one. All issues have to start somewhere is all I'm saying. I never said it was major - it is just an annoyance at the moment.

My best guess is it is likely a driver issue with scroll mice but I cannot confirm that. So I resort to public forums seeking assistance. But it doesn't diminish the fact that there is an issue and I am seeking assistance to resolve it. Thanks for the insight, though!

Lexluethar,

Thanks for the input. I've already ruled that out as well. But out of curiosity, what hardware are you using (mouse/keyboard) and is it a scroll mouse? I really think it is a driver issue.

Thanks!

 

[Lexluethar]

Laser with a scroll wheel. Maybe uninstall any software/drivers for the mouse on the affected PC's and see if just the general MS driver fixes the issue. That seems EXTREMELY random that the scroll wheel or old mouse is causing an issue like this - you'd think it would 'pop' up in other applications as well, along with being consistently on one computer, not 'random' occurences.

Could it be something in the registry? I know that sounds random but when i first installed 07 on my computer it wouldn't properly use spell check. It was enabled and using the right dictionary, but it wasn't properly finding misspellings. Long story short i found out i had to change a registry issue with MS Office.

Random i know, but something to think about.

 

[KSoD]

Biz,

I have tested this on my XP and Vista setup using my Microsoft Natural Keyboard 400 with my Razer Diamondback mouse. Yes it has a scroll wheel as well. To add to that the drivers do not fucntion correctly in Vista as it is yet i can not seem to reproduce this issue at all.

As i suggested try using Revo Uninstaller and then reinstall Office. This will clear out the Registry entries associated with Office to see if that will clear up the issue. I have also tried random clicking while holding down verious keys. I have tried to double and triple click certain cells to see if that is the issue.

I have left clicked then right clicked as fast as my fingers could move to try and cause a glitch. I have tried to right click then left clikc. I have tried just about everything i could think of with my mouse to recreate this issue. Nothing i have tried has worked.

What are the system specs on these machines? Could it possible be that they are under to much load? What about RAM going by? Being a office it is tough to narrow it down on every PC. But it could be something with the network or possibly just the files themselves are corrupted.

What about updating to XP SP3 and is Office already updated to SP1? Either one of those could also help resolve the issue.

Cheers,
Mak

 

[biz_kid1]

The company is not rolling out SP3 just yet, though my machine does have it installed. And all machines should have SP1 for Office on them; however, the auditing app that we use to collect hardware and software info is down right now. I'll be more than happy to post other affected user's info as soon as that comes back up (IF that comes back up).

Here is my machine's specs:
Dell OptiPlex GX745
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz
1.00 GB RAM
XP Pro SP3
And we should all be using the included keyboard and mouse from dell (optical scroll).
Other user's machines should be similar as well.

Sadly, I doubt you'll be able to replicate the issue intentionally - it is SO random when it occurs. Thanks for the suggestions!

Edited to add:
One other user's specs:
Dell Inc. OptiPlex 745
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 (build 2600)
2.40 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
4,096 kilobyte secondary memory cache
1,022 Megabytes Installed Memory
Slot 'DIMM_1' has 512 MB (serial number BA433743)
Slot 'DIMM_2' has 512 MB (serial number BA433742)
Slot 'DIMM_3' is Empty
Slot 'DIMM_4' is Empty
Though not sure how the user got a hold of SP3!

 

[KSoD]

Biz,

This is odd. Those specs are very good. The Core 2 Duo are better than my P4 3.4GHz that i run yet i can not seem to duplicate this issue.

It could be the mouse or the dell keyboard. Sadly i do not have mine available to test them out. As they dont come with a set of drivers. That might be worth looking into.

Cheers,
Mak