Excel

[bachristine]

I am making a spreadsheet in excel and something is going terribly wrong. When I try typing a word into a field each letter replaces the previous letter, not letting me spell out a word in the box. What has happened?

 

[AlanMac]

I thought you may have the "insert" key activated on your keyboard but instead of helping you I came up with another problem.

In Word 2008 when I press the "insert" key the Help menu is activated - why???

Sorry I cannot help

Alan

 

[CyberTaz]

I'm not sure about the other poster's issue -- I'm not even sure she's using
a Mac -- but the key you're referring to works differently on a Mac than on
a PC. It's primary default assignment is to launch Help... It doesn't turn
on Overtype Mode, even in Word.

In fact, Mac Excel doesn't support Overtype mode at all.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[CyberTaz]

I'm afraid we really can't offer much -- You've given no indication
whatsoever of what version of Excel you're using, what it's update level is,
or even what Operating System you're running it on. Even if you're using a
Mac there are at least 3 "current" incarnations of OS X, each of which has
its own set of keyboard controls.

Without that information we're as much in the dark as you are as to what the
problem might be... Or if it's a problem at all -- it may be normal
behavior, although Overtype mode isn't available in Mac Excel. If you are
using a Mac you need to provide all that information.

If you're using a PC version of the program you've simply pressed the Insert
key [sometimes labeled INS] in the Navigation Keys group. Press it again to
toggle Overtype OFF.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[bachristine]

Sorry about the lack of operating system info-- I am using a Mac OS X version 10.6.2 and working with Microsoft Excel 2008 for Mac version 12.2.3

I ended up just shutting down excel and re-opening it, and now it is behaving again. I wonder what key combination I may have hit to get the system in overtype mode. Any ideas on what I might have done and how I could turn it off in the future? Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[CyberTaz]

As to why it happened I haven't a clue :-} Like I said, Excel for Mac
doesn't support an Overtype mode. One 'guess' is that the file may have been
saved in that mode when used in a PC version of Excel & it just "stuck", but
I find that highly unlikely -- I'm not even sure it's possible.

The more probable causes would be that you have some sort of 3rd party
helper/utility/haxie app that was operating or that you had Excel and/or
your Mac running for an extended period of time. The latter can cause memory
leaks to occur which in turn can cause any number of erratic behaviors.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac