Insert Ribbon Disabled

[Clayman]

Excel 2007

All I want to do is put a text box on a spreadsheet. When I click on
"Insert", the ribbon appears disabled. All items except Header & Footer are
grayed out.

The worksheet is not read-only.
There are no cells currently being edited.
Track Changes was turned on. I turned it off, saved and closed the
worksheet - still unavailable after reopening.

I've been using Excel since 1993. It's NEVER been this @#(*$& hard to
insert a textbox.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Sheeloo]

Is this happening with a particular worksheet or all worksheets/workbooks?

What about other ribbon groups, like Data? Are they also greyed out?

Can you share the file, if it is happening with a particular file?

 

[Clayman]

The ribbon is available with other worksheets. I thought about compatibility
mode, but this worksheet is also in compatibility mode.

Thanks for the quick reply, though.

 

[Sheeloo]

Since the ribbon is unavailable it means that, in the context, it does not
make sense to insert a text box.

This usually happens if the worksheet is protected.

How about sending the file to me?

 

[Clayman]

Thank you, Sheeloo. Your post about protection steered me in the right
direction.

It did have something to do with track changes. I thought I had turned it
off completely, but I hadn't.

This ribbon is taking a very long time to get used it. It is not at all
intuitive. 'Course, my intuition leaves a lot to be desired...

 

[Sheeloo]

Glad that you found the source of the problem.

If your mouse has the scroll button then if you use it on the ribbon, it
shows you all the options as if you are moving around a ribbon. Also most
options have a small arrow at the right bottom corner which, when clicked,
opens up the familiar dialog box of earlier versions.

Once I stopped fighting the new interface I found it very very easy to use
compared to earlier versions.

MS had provided a mapping workbook available at
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...-bcGkNKnvSgoTUHow&sig2=l_MWdDa6YU_NKQPsZXb3fg
or
http://tinyurl.com/csdrws

Same thing in pdf format is at
http://www.du.edu/uts/training/materials/documents/ExcelRibbonMap.pdf

I request you to read through http://tinyurl.com/yq2qsj (click on the Print
at the bottom to get the whole article in one window)... You will LOVE Excel
2007 if you just spend about an hour of your time.

 

[dkStevens]

EXCEL Insert ribbon disabled

My Insert ribbon is also mostly disabled. Following a post from 19 Feb, I checked protection/review and found nothing to suggest it's protected. Is there another issue to check?

 

[xanadan]

check to see if you have multiple tabs selected

if you have multiple tabs in the workbook selected, you cant use much of the ribbon functionality (insert, data, etc.). this may have been the original (and often overlooked, especially when you're bringing in tabs to a new workbook) issue.