Excel-can't turn off multiple cell selection or add text/numbers

When I open a spread sheet and left click my mouse in a cell, I can't enter
any data. If I move the mouse, it highlights the cells the cursor touches
and I can't turn that off. Hitting the Esc key does nothing. I'm locked out
of all the toolbar functions. The only way I can terminated the program is
by going to task manager and 'end task'. The EXT indicator isn't on, but
even if it was, I should be able to get out of it by hitting F8. If I try to
X out of Excel by going off the page and selecting anything, the cells just
keep getting highlighted. Yes, I've reinstalled the program. I'm using
Windows XP Pro with Office 2003

try the f8 key


--
Don Guillett
SalesAid Software
donaldb@281.com
"Bob" <Bob@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A9DBC965-55BB-4362-9A2E-F5D1EF047CDB@microsoft.com...
> When I open a spread sheet and left click my mouse in a cell, I can't
enter
> any data. If I move the mouse, it highlights the cells the cursor touches
> and I can't turn that off. Hitting the Esc key does nothing. I'm locked
out
> of all the toolbar functions. The only way I can terminated the program
is
> by going to task manager and 'end task'. The EXT indicator isn't on, but
> even if it was, I should be able to get out of it by hitting F8. If I try
to
> X out of Excel by going off the page and selecting anything, the cells
just
> keep getting highlighted. Yes, I've reinstalled the program. I'm using
> Windows XP Pro with Office 2003

Maybe the mouse is sticking (or the keyboard).

Try gently banging on the ctrl and shift keys and the wheel button on the mouse.

If that doesn't work, David McRitchie has a bunch of notes that deal with the
misbehavior of mice and excel.

http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/ghosting.txt

Bob wrote:
>
> When I open a spread sheet and left click my mouse in a cell, I can't enter
> any data. If I move the mouse, it highlights the cells the cursor touches
> and I can't turn that off. Hitting the Esc key does nothing. I'm locked out
> of all the toolbar functions. The only way I can terminated the program is
> by going to task manager and 'end task'. The EXT indicator isn't on, but
> even if it was, I should be able to get out of it by hitting F8. If I try to
> X out of Excel by going off the page and selecting anything, the cells just
> keep getting highlighted. Yes, I've reinstalled the program. I'm using
> Windows XP Pro with Office 2003

--

Dave Peterson