Can't get out of selection? Assistance would be most appreciated...

Perhaps I have done something inadvertently.

I am in an Excel workbook and I appear to be in the middle of selecting
a block of cells. Everytime I move the cursor, the cell selection area
changes. I can't Esc out, or use the Enter key. Mousing over the
menu, the menu does not respond.

Rather silly really, but I desperately need to use this workbook and
nothing seems to function. Even when the cursor is moving over the
menu items, the cells selected in the workbook area still seems to be
changing. I can't use the menu - the arrow keys don't work.

Does anyone know how to "get out" of whatever selection process is
operating. (And can you tell me what I might have done to get into
this so I don't do it again?)

Thanks,

Stephanie.

This is a known (but unacknowledged by MS) bug. Try clicking the
mouse wheel a few times (if your mouse has a wheel), or if you
have a USB mouse, unplugging and replugging the mouse.


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com


<bajaguide@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1121184571.367253.210610@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Perhaps I have done something inadvertently.
>
> I am in an Excel workbook and I appear to be in the middle of
> selecting
> a block of cells. Everytime I move the cursor, the cell
> selection area
> changes. I can't Esc out, or use the Enter key. Mousing over
> the
> menu, the menu does not respond.
>
> Rather silly really, but I desperately need to use this
> workbook and
> nothing seems to function. Even when the cursor is moving over
> the
> menu items, the cells selected in the workbook area still seems
> to be
> changing. I can't use the menu - the arrow keys don't work.
>
> Does anyone know how to "get out" of whatever selection process
> is
> operating. (And can you tell me what I might have done to get
> into
> this so I don't do it again?)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Stephanie.
>

Try hitting F8 (to toggle out of this mode), then just click on a cell.
(You might have hit F8 accidentally earlier)
--
Rgds
Max
xl 97
---
GMT+8, 1° 22' N 103° 45' E
xdemechanik <at>yahoo<dot>com
----
<bajaguide@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1121184571.367253.210610@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Perhaps I have done something inadvertently.
>
> I am in an Excel workbook and I appear to be in the middle of selecting
> a block of cells. Everytime I move the cursor, the cell selection area
> changes. I can't Esc out, or use the Enter key. Mousing over the
> menu, the menu does not respond.
>
> Rather silly really, but I desperately need to use this workbook and
> nothing seems to function. Even when the cursor is moving over the
> menu items, the cells selected in the workbook area still seems to be
> changing. I can't use the menu - the arrow keys don't work.
>
> Does anyone know how to "get out" of whatever selection process is
> operating. (And can you tell me what I might have done to get into
> this so I don't do it again?)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Stephanie.
>

Interesting. I tried both of the suggestions posted in reply to my
message and neither worked. I was displaying the worksheet on my
laptop using the internal mouse. I closed the worksheet and reopened
it - still the same problem. I closed the worksheet again and then
opened it on my desktop, however, and the problem went away...

Thanks to both of you. Looks like a bug.

Steph.

Max wrote:
> Try hitting F8 (to toggle out of this mode), then just click on a cell.
> (You might have hit F8 accidentally earlier)
> --
> Rgds
> Max
> xl 97
> ---
> GMT+8, 1=B0 22' N 103=B0 45' E
> xdemechanik <at>yahoo<dot>com
> ----
> <bajaguide@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1121184571.367253.210610@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> > Perhaps I have done something inadvertently.
> >
> > I am in an Excel workbook and I appear to be in the middle of selecting
> > a block of cells. Everytime I move the cursor, the cell selection area
> > changes. I can't Esc out, or use the Enter key. Mousing over the
> > menu, the menu does not respond.
> >
> > Rather silly really, but I desperately need to use this workbook and
> > nothing seems to function. Even when the cursor is moving over the
> > menu items, the cells selected in the workbook area still seems to be
> > changing. I can't use the menu - the arrow keys don't work.
> >
> > Does anyone know how to "get out" of whatever selection process is
> > operating. (And can you tell me what I might have done to get into
> > this so I don't do it again?)
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Stephanie.
> >

Glad to hear the issue got resolved, notwithstanding ..
Think there's some possibilities listed at:
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/ghosting.txt
--
Rgds
Max
xl 97
---
GMT+8, 1° 22' N 103° 45' E
xdemechanik <at>yahoo<dot>com
----
"Schipper" <bajaguide@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1121272794.258195.141350@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
Interesting. I tried both of the suggestions posted in reply to my
message and neither worked. I was displaying the worksheet on my
laptop using the internal mouse. I closed the worksheet and reopened
it - still the same problem. I closed the worksheet again and then
opened it on my desktop, however, and the problem went away...

Thanks to both of you. Looks like a bug.

Steph.