screen "jumps" when editing cells

[jocl]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel

I have been using excel for over 10 years in both Windows and on the Mac. Never had any problems. But the new 2008 is very unstable and incomprehensible.

I have the same formatted spreadsheet that I have been using for 10 years. Now certain sheets don't "edit" properly. When I click on the cell and enter a new value, the screen jumps back to the top of the sheet. Sometimes if I hit ESCAPE, it will take me back to the edited cell, but normally I just have to scroll down four or five pages to the original cell.

I have reformatted from other sheets where it doesn't occur, but it doesn't help. I have created copies of sheets where this doesn't happen, then filled them (copied) with data from the sheets where it does happen, and the problem does not go away.

I haven't seen this problem reported in this forum, so it might not be a widespread issue.

I have an early edition MacbookPro with 2 gigs of memory. I have no other issues with any other program on this computer.

The new excel was a big mistake for my company. Other users (all MAC) have constant crashes and other strange issues.

Frankly, since I am also using Vista on a PC in my home, I am hoping that Microsoft will become the IBM or Xerox of the future: that they will lose their power, credibility and position in the market (not to mention wealth) because of their complete lack of respect for their customers and inability to solve the problems they create for us.

Vista finished me off as a PC user. This update of Office has finished me as an "upgrader" for Microsoft products.

Thank you for listening.

 

[Pat McMillan]

Thanks for your feedback. I work in the Macintosh Business Unit at
Microsoft, and I'm sorry for the pain you and your company are feeling with
Excel 2008. We do have a number of issues that we're working through and
hope that you will hang in there as we push to get an update out with fixes
for those issues. I hope you will find evidence in our next update that we
do care about our customers and are able to solve any problems that we've
let slip into our products.

With respect to the specific problem you're reporting here: I have seen
something similar to what you're reporting in both Excel 2004 and Excel
2008, but I have been unable to reproduce the problem from scratch (by
creating a new file, that is). If there's any chance you could send a
workbook with this problem to me it would help us investigate a possible
fix.

Thanks,

Pat McMillan
(e-mail address removed)

 

[dakotakid]

I've lately begun experiencing this issue as well. I have a spreadsheet that I've been using for a couple years, essentially a template that gets reworked and reused.

When I double click in a cell, with the formula bar closed, instead of letting me enter the cell and showing the formula, with precedents, it jumps to another cell, and changes the position of the file within the window. Makes no difference whether the window is maximized or not - it still jumps.

This is irritating as hell, since the precendents often are not visible from the dependent cell. I've been using Excel on Mac since the early days, and never saw this bug since the inline editing feature became available.

Mac PowerBook G4 running Leopard 10.5.2
Excel/Office 2008

I agree with the other poster -- this version is full of bugs, and very disappointing.

 

[dakotakid]

Addendum: In the spreadsheet that I've been experiencing this in, it exhibits the behavior in "Normal" view, but seems to work in "Page Layout" mode. Will let you know if there is other symptoms that are reproducible.

 

[dakotakid]

Switching back to Normal view now works properly. Doubleclickin in the buggy cell shows precedents, even with formula bar showing. Now I can't make it jump, clicking in the cell that was buggy before. Very odd behavior.

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

I've lately begun experiencing this issue as well. I have a spreadsheet that
I've been using for a couple years, essentially a template that gets reworked
and reused.

When I double click in a cell, with the formula bar closed, instead of letting
me enter the cell and showing the formula, with precedents, it jumps to
another cell, and changes the position of the file within the window. Makes no
difference whether the window is maximized or not - it still jumps.

This is irritating as hell, since the precendents often are not visible from
the dependent cell. I've been using Excel on Mac since the early days, and
never saw this bug since the inline editing feature became available.

Mac PowerBook G4 running Leopard 10.5.2
Excel/Office 2008

This is by design. Double clicking a cell either 1) selects the cell's
precedents if Edit directly in cell is turned off, or 2) allows the cell to
be edited if Edit directly in cell is checked. Look in Excel's EDIT
preferences to make sure it is set the way you want. (I personally NEVER
have edit directly in cell turned on because I find the selection of
precedents to be extremely helpful.)

 

[mollywj]

I am having the same problem. "Edit directly in cell" is turned ON.
Switching between normal and page layout views did not help. The
problem only occurs some of the time, and it seems to matter where I
click. If the cursor is dead on in the middle of the cell, then I can
edit the cell. If the cursor is offset even slightly up or down, I
get jumped all the way to the top or bottom of the datablock. Even
with great care it is impossible to get the cursor in exactly the
right place every time.

Any suggestions?