Hello, I'm working in Word and Excel for Mac Version 16.51 - part of MS Office 2019, not 365. I'm on a 2020 MacBook Pro with Big Sur 11.4 (but these problems have been occurring since I was using Catalina). I'm having numerous recurring problems with both Word and Excel. I haven't seen any pattern in terms of when or in what type of file these issues occur. Note that I edit other peoples Word docs with Track Changes on all the time. For Excel files, it's rare for me to work on anyone else's files - I always create my own, whether from a template I've created or from a blank spreadsheet. In Word: Sometimes the cursor disappears and will only reappear if I close the document and reopen it. Sometimes when I try to highlight text (whether a word, line, or paragraph), Word doesn’t highlight it. It may be able to highlight above or below the text I want to highlight, but it’s as though what I want to highlight just isn’t there, though I can see it. I can edit the text, but I can’t place the cursor to know where I’m editing; it’s only after I’ve made the edit that I can tell where it was done. Sometimes it’ll give me a duplicate of a row, right above the existing row. I can’t highlight the duplicate to remove it; I can only work on the original row, and as I'm working on the original row, the same changes are occurring in the duplicated row. To get rid of the duplicate row, I've got to close out of the doc and go back in. Sometimes in the middle of typing, Word jumps down to the end of the document without my having hit any key that would cause that to happen. In Excel: When I get to the bottom of the rows that are visible on the screen, instead of scrolling to show the next line with every line that I add, it will scroll to the next available line, then partway through inputting into the first cell, it will skip to another open spreadsheet and begin inputting in that spreadsheet. It has happened often enough that I know it's not some random keystroke on my part. Sometimes I can’t click on a cell. I can click on a nearby cell, then use the arrow or tab keys to get to the one I want, but I can’t just click on it. And sometimes when I click on a cell, the cursor shows me in the cell I clicked on, but the data I’m entering in the cell shows in the cell below the one I’m entering it into. When I hit return or tab to move to the next cell, the data shows up in the cell I clicked on - just not while I’m entering it. When I type or paste a number or formula into a cell, sometimes it isn’t visible right away. I may have to hit save to see it, or click out of the spreadsheet, then back in. Or work a few more functions before it’ll show up in the cell. I can go to the cell and see it in the menu bar above, but the cell appears to be blank until the contents finally just appear. In addition, if I'm changing the formula in a cell that affects other cells, instead of the changes to the other cells showing immediately, they may not show until I either hit save or scroll until the cells that should change are off the screen. Sometimes a cell picks up a format from an earlier cell, despite the fact that I have deselected “Extend data range formats and formulas”. I've already done a full Office uninstall, including wiping all of the associated files, then reinstalling. It seems to me that my Office software is corrupt, but I don't know if that's the case, nor how to go about trying to get it replaced. I'd appreciate any help or wisdom. Thanks.

Hi Jim, Thank you very much for your message. I didn't know that I had an Insider or Beta Channel version - I have no idea what that even means, and I don't know why I would have an Insider/Beta version rather than the regular version. That was certainly not my intention. The reason I grouped the Excel and Word comments into one post was mostly to say that the Office issues I was having weren't limited to just Word - I thought it might indicate that I was having problems with my install of Office as a whole, rather than just with one of the programs within it. I've never used Outlook, and don't intend to - I exclusively use Word and Excel, and no other elements within Office, so I don't have any concerns about what might happen to Outlook if I change versions. I've not installed OneDrive - I didn't even know what it was until I googled it. :) I DO always have Adobe Acrobat Pro DC and Illustrator (CC 2021 versions) up and running while Word and Excel are running. I'm in and out of all 4 software packages (and occasionally Adobe InDesign as well) all day long. I AM using some non-Office and non-Mac fonts that clients send me to use with Adobe InDesign (maybe a dozen or so), but I never use those fonts with Office - only in InDesign and Illustrator. I only ever use system fonts when I'm working in Word and Excel. I tried running Word both in safe mode and with a new user, and in both cases the issues occurred again. I've had some other issues with my Macbook, so I've dropped it off at an Apple Store for diagnostics and repair. I had to buy a new laptop late yesterday so that I can keep working while they're going over my other laptop, so I'll see if the issues occur again on the new one. I've got Office 16.52 running on the new laptop. Should I continue working with that version? Thanks again for your help, Sue

Hi Sue, Office 365 subscribers can choose from three channels: Current Channel This channel provides the general release that is what most people should use. It is fully supported. An update comes out every month, generally during the second week of each month Current Channel Preview (formerly called Insider Slow) This channel provides the general release build a week sooner than Current Channel. The main purpose is for IT departments to get the upcoming general release a few days early and test it to make sure there isn't something that's catastrophically wrong. IT shops can control updates and can delay installing the release should they find a problem. This channel is also for people who have a known issue and the update is known to have a fix for the problem. Their troubles go away a week sooner if they install the Preview build. It's also for the people who always want to be first in line. Beta Channel (formerly called Insider Fast) Beta channel builds are weekly, raw, unsupported builds that Microsoft releases for testing new features and bug fixes. The feature set can change weekly. There can be crashes and problems, which Microsoft hopes the beta testers will report and comment on, and Microsoft wants feedback on new, yet to be released feature experiments. These builds are not officially supported. Note that the forum channel names still have not caught up with the in-product names of the above 3 channels. To switch from one channel to another, in an Office application choose Check for Updates, which launces AutoUpdate app. Click the Advanced button and then click the pop-up to choose a channel. If you switch from Beta channel to a different channel, when that channel's update is newer than the beta channel build, you will then get the current channel updates and will no longer get beta channel updates. It will not instantly revert you to current channel builds because doing so can cause major problems, as I mentioned earlier. Not only can Outlook become non-operational, dates and times can be messed up. It's best to just wait till the current channel build overtakes the beta channel build. Running in safe mode was a good test. When you boot to safe mode, only the system fonts and fonts that shipped with Office are active. This can help rule out problems with your additional fonts. In this case, your problem did not go away in Safe Mode, so fonts are probably not the root of the trouble. Testing in a new Mac OS user account would be the next troubleshooting step to try. If there's no improvement, then reinstalling Mac OS would be the next step to take.

Thanks again Jim. I have Office 2019, not Office 365. As I'd mentioned, I already set up a new Mac OS user account, and I had the same problems. My laptop is currently with Apple, so hopefully they'll find that something's wrong with it. Meanwhile, I'm working with a brand new laptop, so we'll see if any of the issues I'd had with the other laptop show up on the new one. Sue

Hi again Knitsalot Office 2019 is the Microsoft Office suite that an Office 365 subscription entitles you to obtain as part of your subscription. Other products are included with your Office 365 subscription, as well. You can explore the additional software options by signing into Office.com

Word randomly duplicates lines of text, Excel won't allow me to type in cells and cells appear empty even when not (Office for Mac)

Anonymous

Hello,

I'm working in Word and Excel for Mac Version 16.51 - part of MS Office 2019, not 365. I'm on a 2020 MacBook Pro with Big Sur 11.4 (but these problems have been occurring since I was using Catalina).

I'm having numerous recurring problems with both Word and Excel. I haven't seen any pattern in terms of when or in what type of file these issues occur. Note that I edit other peoples Word docs with Track Changes on all the time. For Excel files, it's rare for me to work on anyone else's files - I always create my own, whether from a template I've created or from a blank spreadsheet.

In Word:

Sometimes the cursor disappears and will only reappear if I close the document and reopen it.
Sometimes when I try to highlight text (whether a word, line, or paragraph), Word doesn’t highlight it. It may be able to highlight above or below the text I want to highlight, but it’s as though what I want to highlight just isn’t there, though I can see it. I can edit the text, but I can’t place the cursor to know where I’m editing; it’s only after I’ve made the edit that I can tell where it was done.
Sometimes it’ll give me a duplicate of a row, right above the existing row. I can’t highlight the duplicate to remove it; I can only work on the original row, and as I'm working on the original row, the same changes are occurring in the duplicated row. To get rid of the duplicate row, I've got to close out of the doc and go back in.
Sometimes in the middle of typing, Word jumps down to the end of the document without my having hit any key that would cause that to happen.

In Excel:

When I get to the bottom of the rows that are visible on the screen, instead of scrolling to show the next line with every line that I add, it will scroll to the next available line, then partway through inputting into the first cell, it will skip to another open spreadsheet and begin inputting in that spreadsheet. It has happened often enough that I know it's not some random keystroke on my part.
Sometimes I can’t click on a cell. I can click on a nearby cell, then use the arrow or tab keys to get to the one I want, but I can’t just click on it. And sometimes when I click on a cell, the cursor shows me in the cell I clicked on, but the data I’m entering in the cell shows in the cell below the one I’m entering it into. When I hit return or tab to move to the next cell, the data shows up in the cell I clicked on - just not while I’m entering it.
When I type or paste a number or formula into a cell, sometimes it isn’t visible right away. I may have to hit save to see it, or click out of the spreadsheet, then back in. Or work a few more functions before it’ll show up in the cell. I can go to the cell and see it in the menu bar above, but the cell appears to be blank until the contents finally just appear. In addition, if I'm changing the formula in a cell that affects other cells, instead of the changes to the other cells showing immediately, they may not show until I either hit save or scroll until the cells that should change are off the screen.
Sometimes a cell picks up a format from an earlier cell, despite the fact that I have deselected “Extend data range formats and formulas”.

I've already done a full Office uninstall, including wiping all of the associated files, then reinstalling. It seems to me that my Office software is corrupt, but I don't know if that's the case, nor how to go about trying to get it replaced.

I'd appreciate any help or wisdom.

Thanks.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous

Hi Jim,

I do not have an Office 365 subscription. I bought Office 2019 as a desktop application. I don't want the subscription, which is why I chose Office 2019.

I've got my laptop back from Apple. They ran all of their diagnostics on the laptop and found that there were no hardware issues with it at all. They completely wiped the hard drive and installed an entirely new operating system. I have downloaded version 16.50 of Office and have installed it. Hopefully I just had a buggy OS to begin with, and with the new OS, Word and Excel will work properly now.

I will let you know if the issues start back up again.

Thank you,

Sue

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16 additional answers

Anonymous

2021-07-09T18:50:05+00:00

Hi Jim,

Thank you very much for your message.

I didn't know that I had an Insider or Beta Channel version - I have no idea what that even means, and I don't know why I would have an Insider/Beta version rather than the regular version. That was certainly not my intention.

The reason I grouped the Excel and Word comments into one post was mostly to say that the Office issues I was having weren't limited to just Word - I thought it might indicate that I was having problems with my install of Office as a whole, rather than just with one of the programs within it.

I've never used Outlook, and don't intend to - I exclusively use Word and Excel, and no other elements within Office, so I don't have any concerns about what might happen to Outlook if I change versions.

I've not installed OneDrive - I didn't even know what it was until I googled it. :) I DO always have Adobe Acrobat Pro DC and Illustrator (CC 2021 versions) up and running while Word and Excel are running. I'm in and out of all 4 software packages (and occasionally Adobe InDesign as well) all day long.

I AM using some non-Office and non-Mac fonts that clients send me to use with Adobe InDesign (maybe a dozen or so), but I never use those fonts with Office - only in InDesign and Illustrator. I only ever use system fonts when I'm working in Word and Excel.

I tried running Word both in safe mode and with a new user, and in both cases the issues occurred again. I've had some other issues with my Macbook, so I've dropped it off at an Apple Store for diagnostics and repair. I had to buy a new laptop late yesterday so that I can keep working while they're going over my other laptop, so I'll see if the issues occur again on the new one.

I've got Office 16.52 running on the new laptop. Should I continue working with that version?

Thanks again for your help,

Sue
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Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP

2021-07-10T18:59:42+00:00

Hi Sue,

Office 365 subscribers can choose from three channels:

Current Channel

This channel provides the general release that is what most people should use. It is fully supported. An update comes out every month, generally during the second week of each month

Current Channel Preview (formerly called Insider Slow)

This channel provides the general release build a week sooner than Current Channel. The main purpose is for IT departments to get the upcoming general release a few days early and test it to make sure there isn't something that's catastrophically wrong. IT shops can control updates and can delay installing the release should they find a problem. This channel is also for people who have a known issue and the update is known to have a fix for the problem. Their troubles go away a week sooner if they install the Preview build. It's also for the people who always want to be first in line.

Beta Channel (formerly called Insider Fast)

Beta channel builds are weekly, raw, unsupported builds that Microsoft releases for testing new features and bug fixes. The feature set can change weekly. There can be crashes and problems, which Microsoft hopes the beta testers will report and comment on, and Microsoft wants feedback on new, yet to be released feature experiments. These builds are not officially supported.

Note that the forum channel names still have not caught up with the in-product names of the above 3 channels.

To switch from one channel to another, in an Office application choose Check for Updates, which launces AutoUpdate app. Click the Advanced button and then click the pop-up to choose a channel.

If you switch from Beta channel to a different channel, when that channel's update is newer than the beta channel build, you will then get the current channel updates and will no longer get beta channel updates. It will not instantly revert you to current channel builds because doing so can cause major problems, as I mentioned earlier. Not only can Outlook become non-operational, dates and times can be messed up. It's best to just wait till the current channel build overtakes the beta channel build.

Running in safe mode was a good test. When you boot to safe mode, only the system fonts and fonts that shipped with Office are active. This can help rule out problems with your additional fonts. In this case, your problem did not go away in Safe Mode, so fonts are probably not the root of the trouble.

Testing in a new Mac OS user account would be the next troubleshooting step to try.

If there's no improvement, then reinstalling Mac OS would be the next step to take.
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Anonymous

2021-07-10T19:36:10+00:00

Thanks again Jim.

I have Office 2019, not Office 365.

As I'd mentioned, I already set up a new Mac OS user account, and I had the same problems.

My laptop is currently with Apple, so hopefully they'll find that something's wrong with it. Meanwhile, I'm working with a brand new laptop, so we'll see if any of the issues I'd had with the other laptop show up on the new one.

Sue
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Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP

2021-07-13T16:09:24+00:00

Hi again Knitsalot

Office 2019 is the Microsoft Office suite that an Office 365 subscription entitles you to obtain as part of your subscription. Other products are included with your Office 365 subscription, as well. You can explore the additional software options by signing into Office.com
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