Cursor disappears in cell edit mode

[NWGuy]

Try this: go to a cell, press Ctrl-U, then watch the cursor disappear as you
try to move it with the arrow key. Why? I'm using the latest version of
Excel:X on Mac OS 10.2.8. It's just another example of frustration I don't
find in the Windows version of Excel that I get to use at work. Is there a
fix for this?
Rick

 

[J.E. McGimpsey]

Try this: go to a cell, press Ctrl-U, then watch the cursor disappear as you
try to move it with the arrow key. Why? I'm using the latest version of
Excel:X on Mac OS 10.2.8. It's just another example of frustration I don't
find in the Windows version of Excel that I get to use at work. Is there a
fix for this?

I can't reproduce this - it works fine for me - the cursor goes back
and forth one character per arrow press (XLv.X 10.1.5, OS X 10.2.8).
It blinks about once per second, but is clearly visible.

Do you by chance have some other input driver or haxie installed on
your system?

 

[NWGuy]

I can't reproduce this - it works fine for me - the cursor goes back
and forth one character per arrow press (XLv.X 10.1.5, OS X 10.2.8).
It blinks about once per second, but is clearly visible.

Do you by chance have some other input driver or haxie installed on
your system?

I don't think I was clear with my example. Say the cell entry is 8
characters and you want to move to the 2nd one in from the left. Hold down
the left arrow key to move the cursor quickly to the left. What happens on
my computer is that the cursor completely vanishes not to reappear until I
let go of the left arrow key. Of course, I have no idea when to let go since
the cursor is invisible until I do. Invariably, I have to guess and then
move the cursor right or left one keystroke at a time till I get it where I
want it to be. This is not how it works on the Windows version of Excel.
No, I don't have any "haxies" or special drivers either, unless the
Microsoft Intellimouse Optical mouse I use somehow could cause this. Thanks.
Rick

 

[Bernard Rey]

NWGuy wrote :

I don't think I was clear with my example. Say the cell entry is 8
characters and you want to move to the 2nd one in from the left. Hold down
the left arrow key to move the cursor quickly to the left. What happens on
my computer is that the cursor completely vanishes not to reappear until I
let go of the left arrow key. Of course, I have no idea when to let go since
the cursor is invisible until I do. Invariably, I have to guess and then
move the cursor right or left one keystroke at a time till I get it where I
want it to be. This is not how it works on the Windows version of Excel.
No, I don't have any "haxies" or special drivers either, unless the
Microsoft Intellimouse Optical mouse I use somehow could cause this. Thanks.

You're too fast for it to display. A trick : hold the shift key down while
clicing, that'll select the characters and show you more precisely "where"
you are. Just before you reach the right spot, let the shift key come up
again. It may help you out a bit faster than waiting each time...

 

[J.E. McGimpsey]

I don't think I was clear with my example. Say the cell entry is 8
characters and you want to move to the 2nd one in from the left. Hold down
the left arrow key to move the cursor quickly to the left. What happens on
my computer is that the cursor completely vanishes not to reappear until I
let go of the left arrow key. Of course, I have no idea when to let go since
the cursor is invisible until I do. Invariably, I have to guess and then
move the cursor right or left one keystroke at a time till I get it where I
want it to be.

Ah - I see what you mean. For me, it seems to be a matter of the Key
Repeat rate set in System Preferences/Keyboard and Mouse/Keyboard
tab. When I tested it, a setting of 1-3 shows the cursor at all
times, a setting of 4 showed it about half the time, and a setting
of 5-7 didn't show it while the arrow key was held down. Of course,
a setting below 5 for me is painfully slow.

It's somewhat system dependent - changing XL's Nice setting to -10
(via the terminal's renice command) and running fewer processes got
the cursor to flicker occasionally at a Key Repeat setting of 5.

Please provide MS with feedback on this using XL's Help/Feedback on
Excel menu item. There's no reason that I can see that the refresh
rate while editing shouldn't be fast enough to keep up with the
fastest keyboard setting.