Cursor Stuck In Select Mode

[Andrew Chalk]

I have an odd problem with Excel in Office XP running on XP Professional.

For no apparent reason the cursor will go into a "cell seelct" mode similar
to the one that is in effect when selecting a print area. It does this
without warning and cannot be exited. I have to kill Excel from Task
manager. No menu selections are accessable although I can Alt-tab to other
applications.

Any idea what causes this and how to fix it?

Many thanks.

 

[Dan E]

Andrew,

Next time it happens try pressing the F8 key, that enters and exits
a selection extend mode. Try pressing it twice in cas it is in the
other select mode (Shift + F8). If you need to press it twice, try
pressing Shift + F8 once the next time it happens.

Dan E

 

[Andrew Chalk]

Thanks, Dan. I tried F8 as you described but it didn't affect things. This
problem is very odd. It just goes into this mode without warning. Although a
keystroke is necessary to invoke it, it is not the same key
stroke/combination each time.

Regards

 

[tappies]

By any chance do you have a sticky Shift key?

tappies

 

[RagDyer]

This is not an uncommon, occurrence in XL.

It's been called many things, one of which is "Ghosting".

Go to this Google Advanced site, and search using
"Ghosting".

http://www.google.com/advanced_group_search?q=group:*excel

You'll be surprised at the number of posts relating to your problem.


HTH,

RD

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Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so that all may benefit!
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Thanks, Dan. I tried F8 as you described but it didn't affect things. This
problem is very odd. It just goes into this mode without warning. Although a
keystroke is necessary to invoke it, it is not the same key
stroke/combination each time.

Regards

 

[Andrew Chalk]

Thanks! Apparently no single cure. The cause appears to be the mouse driver.

Regards

 

[mad not bad]

I have had same problem and put it down to the scroll button/wheel button on
the mouse. I hit this button a couple of times to release it.

 

[Courtneyh]

Hi there,

I was having this same problem. It could be a bug or just tapping the touchpad wrong, but if this starts to happen, hit your left click button and it should stop doing this. I have a laptop and just hit my left click, but should work with a mouse as well. Hope this helps.

CH

 

[RandallIja]

I had the same issue. The issue was across all applications not just Excel. To solve the problem I RnR the batteries and re-synced. The drivers were auto reloaded. Now no more permanent selection issue.