Mouse selects only multiple cells

[Jo]

Occasionally I get this weird thing where the mouse will suddenly insist on
selecting more than one cell when I click on a cell, usually cells in the
same column and adjascent rows. In other words, if I click on C3, it will
highlight C3:C4 or even C3:C5 or more. If I click and hold the left mouse
button, the cell info field (upper left of the screen) changes from the cell
number (e.g. C3) to "2R x 1C". I don't understand why it does this multiple
selection, and I don't know what I do to finally disable it. It doesn't do it
all the time, so obviously something must disable it (or correct the problem).

I've been working with macros a lot lately, but none of the macros seem to
permanently change a setting that selects more than one cell by default, but
maybe I just don't recognize a problem from a macro.

Please help? Thanks.

 

[FSt1]

hi
next time it happened, tap the F8 key. that is the "extend selection" key.
it's boolene. tap F8 once to turn on. tap again to turn off.

Regards
FSt1

 

[Jo]

Hi FSt1,

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately it doesn't solve the problem. I see
what you mean about the extended selection feature. It will hold my current
selection and add whatever else I select. The problem is that the mouse
cursor is still selecting a minimum of 2 cells at a time, with or without F8
on.

I suspect the problem might be in my macros somewhere. It doesn't happen
until I load that particular spreadsheet. In the past it corrected itself
somehow, but right now I can't get it to stop. I've seen what I think might
be a reference to it in a general search online but I haven't found any
solutions yet. Any more ideas are most welcome!

Jo

 

[Jo]

Solution Found.

After searching around the Internet, I discovered what the problem is. It
happens when you're in Page View, and it seems to get triggered when you work
in Page View. When I take that sheet off Page View and change it to Normal
View, it's fine. And at some point, after working in Normal View for a while,
it seems to correct the problem even when I'm in Page View. So the trick is
to change it out of Page View; if that doesn't solve it right away, save the
spreadsheet in Normal View, shut down Excel and reload it and the
spreadsheet. That should do the trick.

It's obvious this is a bug in Excel 2007. Alas, I saw reports of it well
back into 2008, so perhaps it's not considered a serious enough bug for MS to
fix. I hope they change their minds on that. It's awfully frustrating not
knowing why it's misbehaving so strangely. Meanwhile, I hope this post helps
out someone else who has this problem.

Jo

 

[BP]

I had the same issue. Thanks Jo for the tip on changing from Page Layout to
Normal view. Seems to have solved the bug, although it is annoying and
should be fixed.

 

[Jo]

You're welcome, BP. Trying to do anything other than View in Page Layout view
seems to just create problems. Glad it helped someone else.

Jo.

 

[Badbat]

I have the same problem. Irritating. I found the following advice on another
web site. Bottom line, try tapping the mouse wheel.

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

 

[Jo]

Thanks Badbat. I'll have to try your other suggestions. I do find that it
happens for me only when it's in Page Layout mode and that it clears
immediately when I put it back in Normal mode. But I'll have to see if these
other things work too.

Jo.

 

[Gord Dibben]

When in page layout mode change your Zoom setting slightly up or down.

That's the usual fix in Excel 2007


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP