Excel 2003 - right click clears selected cells

[Michelle]

We have Excel 2003 SP3 on Windows XP SP2. Recently on one device, when we
select some cells and right click, we don't see the typical menu (copy, cut,
paste, etc.) -- it just clears the selection. Any ideas/suggestions?
Thanks!

 

[Daniel.C]

Can you execute the following macro :
Sub test()
Application.CommandBars("Cell").Reset
End Sub
Daniel

 

[Gary''s Student]

You may be seeing the result of an Event macro. Let's say you wanted to
create this feature: right-click clears the selected cells. Enter the
following event macro in the worksheet code area:

Private Sub Worksheet_BeforeRightClick(ByVal Target As Range, Cancel As
Boolean)
Cancel = True
Target.Clear
End Sub


This produces what you are seeing: the selected cells get cleared and no
right-click menu appears.


Because it is worksheet code, it is very easy to install and use:

1. right-click the tab name near the bottom of the window
2. select View Code - this brings up a VBE window
3. paste the stuff in and close the VBE window

If you save the workbook, the macro will be saved with it.

To remove the macro:

1. bring up the VBE windows as above
2. clear the code out
3. close the VBE window

To learn more about macros in general, see:

http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/getstarted.htm

To learn more about Event Macros (worksheet code), see:

http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/event.htm

 

[Michelle]

Hi Gary - thanks for the information. I did come across some information
similar to this when researching before posting ... but I wasn't sure it
applied. The user doesn't recall doing any code and this is happening to
every Excel document he has -- not just one.

Any idea what would cause it to happen without (known) user intervention to
all Excel documents? We did have a different user login to the machine (to
generate a new OS profile with default settings) and the second user didn't
have the issue ... so it must be something specific to the original users
profile/settings...

Thanks!

 

[Gary''s Student]

Valuable information. Have the user

1. quit Excel

2. go to:
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel
and temporarily remove the .xlb file

3. re-start Excel. If the problem is gone, the .xlb was probably corrupt.
If the problem remains, restore the .xlb file and search elsewhere.