Ctrl-H crashes Excel 2002.

[Jim Luedke]

In Excel 2002 (10.2614.2625):

1. Launch Excel. Get or load a new workbook.

2. Do a search by values (Edit / Find / Options / Look in / change
Formulas to Values, execute).

2. Press Ctrl-H.

Excel go bye-bye.

***

Also note 'Excel XP crashes on Ctrl-H' in microsoft.public.excel.misc;
but no detail is provided.

Will someone please test this in 2007 etc.?

Thanks.

***

 

[Jim Luedke]

P.S.

Assigning shortcut key Ctrl-h to a macro seems to intercept Excel and
prevents it from crashing. You don't even need any code in your macro.
E.g.:

1. Press Alt-F11 to get the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)
editor.

2. In the Project View at left, if you don't have a macros module (or
any module), right-click on item Modules and select Insert / Module.

3. Highlight the name of the module you just created (Module1). Press
F7 to xfer focus to the right-hand (text) part of the editor.

4. Enter:

Public Sub BlockExcel2002CtrlHCrashBug()
'<No code needed here.>
End Sub

5. Press Alt-F4 to exit the editor.

6. On the main menu, select Tools / Macro / Macros.

7. See your procedure (macro) name ('BlockExcel...') in the dialog.
Highlight it and click the Options button.

8. In the little shortcut key field, type a *lowercase* h. That
assigns shortcut keystroke Ctrl-h to this procedure (macro). Exit.

9. Henceforth every time you press Ctrl-h you are executing this
procedure (which as written does nothing). (While yer at it, put some
useful code in it, write yourself a macro, and learn a little VBA.)

***

 

[Jim Luedke]

P.S.

Assigning shortcut key Ctrl-h to a macro seems to intercept Excel and
prevents it from crashing. You don't even need any code in your macro.
E.g.:

1. Press Alt-F11 to get the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)
editor.

2. In the Project View at left, if you don't have a macros module (or
any module), right-click on item Modules and select Insert / Module.

3. Highlight the name of the module you just created (Module1). Press
F7 to xfer focus to the right-hand (text) part of the editor.

4. Enter:

Public Sub BlockExcel2002CtrlHCrashBug()
'<No code needed here.>
End Sub

5. Press Alt-F4 to exit the editor.

6. On the main menu, select Tools / Macro / Macros.

7. See your procedure (macro) name ('BlockExcel...') in the dialog.
Highlight it and click the Options button.

8. In the little shortcut key field, type a *lowercase* h. That
assigns shortcut keystroke Ctrl-h to this procedure (macro). Exit.

9. Henceforth every time you press Ctrl-h you are executing this
procedure (which as written does nothing). (While yer at it, put some
useful code in it, write yourself a macro, and learn a little VBA.)

***

 

[Bob I]

No crash here.

 

[Jim Luedke]

Bob I:

In what version of Excel is there no crash?

***

 

[Mike Middleton]

Jim -

I followed your instructions except that I couldn't find "execute" so I
clicked Find All. Excel showed a message box that it couldn't find anything,
so I closed the dialog box (both before and after pressing Ctrl-H).
Everything seemed normal in Excel 2002 SP3, Excel 2003 SP3, Excel 2007 SP2,
and Excel 2010 Beta.

- Mike
http://www.MikeMiddleton.com


In Excel 2002 (10.2614.2625):

1. Launch Excel. Get or load a new workbook.

2. Do a search by values (Edit / Find / Options / Look in / change
Formulas to Values, execute).

2. Press Ctrl-H.

Excel go bye-bye.

***

Also note 'Excel XP crashes on Ctrl-H' in microsoft.public.excel.misc;
but no detail is provided.

Will someone please test this in 2007 etc.?

Thanks.

***

 

[Dave Peterson]

I don't use xl2002 anymore, but could you try this?

Try changing to a different printer (or printer driver).

I remember reading a story where Microsoft said that most crashes are caused by
poorly written printer drivers.

 

[Bob I]

In Excel 2002 (10.2614.2625):

1. Launch Excel. Get or load a new workbook.

2. Do a search by values (Edit / Find / Options / Look in / change
Formulas to Values, execute).

2. Press Ctrl-H.

Excel go bye-bye.

***

Also note 'Excel XP crashes on Ctrl-H' in microsoft.public.excel.misc;
but no detail is provided.

Will someone please test this in 2007 etc.? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


Thanks.

***

 

[Jim Luedke]

Mike, Dave:

Thanks very much both for replies.

1) I have 3 printer drivers in my printer list--Fax, an HP DeskJet,
and PrimoPDF (great product, by the way). Selecting a different
printer didn't stop Ctrl-H from crashing Excel, once a search by
Values was done. But that was a great idea.

2) What DID fix the problem was installing Office XP SP3. (Of course,
I didn't realize I didn't HAVE any SP because Excel's Help / About
just gave me a ver. no. w/out any SP designation.)

I had neglected to say that Ctrl-H normally brings up the Search
dialog. As long as you do searches by Formulas only, Ctrl-H continues
to do that. Once you do one search on Values, henceforth Ctrl-H
crashes Excel 2002 pre-Service Pack (3? earlier?).

I'll submit a separate post on what I learned.

Thanks again.

***