After Last Update Scroll Inactive Windows Doesn't Work With Excel 2016

@ Ryan Mon1

I believe/understand, there is not "the exact problem", but at least 3 problems.

All problems common points:

a) Windows 10

b) Scrolling with the mouse does not function as expected/as it should be

(scrolling of the mouse relates to the point, that when moving the mouse to different areas of the screen, different scrolling actions should happen)

1. This thread problem is characterized by 1 open Excel File in combination with other programs like Word, Firefox, ...... It occurred around 26. October 2016 with Windows 10 update KB3197954. Until 25. October 2016 scrolling worked as it should be.

The not working point is only visible around Excel with following characteristics:

a) Excel is the active window: Wherever the mouse points onto Excel, Word, Firefox, ...., only the active Excel sheet gets scrolled (Problem #1a)

b) Excel is one of the inactive windows: Scrolling of all windows except Excel is working correctly. For Example 3 windows are open as Firefox (active), Word (inactive) and Excel (inactive).

As long as the mouse points on Firefox, Firefox gets scrolled, but when the mouse moves over to Word, Word gets scrolled despite being inactive. The problem point is when the mouse moves over to the inactive Excel window. Correct would be if the Excel sheet gets scrolled. This was the case until 25. October 2016, but since 26. October NOTHING gets scrolled when the mouse points onto the inactive Excel sheet (Problem #1b).

2. A different, but related problem is discussed in: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice\_excel-mso\_win10/excel-scrolls-the-wrong-window-on-hover/0cfd5f7f-865d-44d6-a985-7edd77d6c5e6

It is characterized by 2 or more open Excel windows and it was first reported February 2016 (this means it is not related to Windows update KB3197954).

In case of 2 or more open Excel windows the new Windows 10 functionality "scrolling of inactive window" probably never had worked, because on which of the different Excel windows the mouse points is completely irrelevant, only the active Excel window gets scrolled (Problem #2).

3. I am not aware of any separate discussion thread on this 3rd problem. It is characterized by the change of scrolling within the active window. The problems can be seen extremely when opening the Windows 10 "Resource Monitor". Moving the mouse within the Resource Monitor should get scrolled different areas, but initially it looks only the list areas on the left side can be scrolled, only when ..... also the chart part on the right side can be scrolled, but then ...... (I don't want to lose more time here to explain details, because up to now Microsoft has shown ZERO interest to understand and work on these problems)

A great problem on above at least 3 different problem points is, who within Microsoft may be responsible/can correct this problem. Problem #1 and #2 point somehow to Excel.

My last thinking is:

All these 3 problems are located within the Windows 10 module that controls all the different mouse actions. Inside this Windows 10 module it is necessary to open up different actions depending on the position of the mouse on the screen and for this a lot of different windows have to be managed. Something (at least 3 different detail points) within this management is not working correctly, but not in the sense of catastrophically not working at all but only to cause the problems # 1, 2 and 3 and perhaps even more problems not yet noticed/reported. When Windows 10 opens a new Window like Excel, there must be some communication so that Windows arranges the correct mouse scrolling action for each screen pixel the mouse points onto and here I think the way Excel communicates with Windows 10 is different from Word, because also MacOS users noticed, if I remember correctly already 2015, Word scrolling is OK, but Excel is not as it should be.

Another key point, showing for me clearly this is a Microsoft problem, not related to any hardware or other software interaction is following:

In Excel 2013 and 2016 it is possible to cure problem #1, but not problems #2 and #3 by

a) renaming Excel.exe for example to Excel-1.exe   or alternatively

b) copying Excel.exe into Excel-1.exe and let all .xlsx files be opened by Excel-1.exe.

I am working with b) on Excel 2013 now for several months and standard-wise opening all .xlsx files by Excel-1.exe problem #1 never occurs, but when I open the same file with original set Excel.exe problem #1 is immediately present (and Excel.exe and Excel-1.exe are same, just copied and/or named differently - I am really curious to understand how Microsoft managed to introduce a problem with inactive window scrolling by different name of the Excel program file).

In thread on problem #2, Microsoft "Prabhavathi Patil" stated on 20 February 2016:

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Suppose if there are two excel open A and B and you are already working on the editing file A and if you are reading from B but not working on B then you may have to click on file B to scroll.

If you have further questions related to this, please let us know.

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When I read above comment, I asked myself, if Microsoft "Prabhavathi Patil" understands at all about the Windows 10 function "scrolling of inactive window" and how it should work (and is working for example with Word).

And obviously this is the formal Microsoft statement on this problem or how to understand the 2nd sentence "..., please let us know".

So ******** is wrong with his statement this problem is 7 months old! In reality this problem in sense of sub-problem #2 is already 15 months old and should have been corrected long time ago, most probably avoiding the creation of sub-problem #1, if .......

Seeing total situation I believe Microsoft has arranged itself in a nice monopoly "ivory tower" with a fence so high, that real world problems do not really come any more to the attention of the correct people within Microsoft, because also in this thread Microsoft Forum Moderator "Michelle Heir" came after initially asking us users to exclude problems with hardware, other programs and confirming correct set-up of Office, .... on 12 December 2016 to the conclusion

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We are still trying to collate how many users have the same problem before we can forward this to the Office Team.

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So Microsoft Forum Moderator "Michelle Heir" decided after all information that this problem is better to address to the Office Team and not the Windows 10 Team. This may be OK/working if the Office Team has a close connection with the Windows 10 Team, because in my amateur opinion this problem is 99.9…% with Windows 10, but if there is no close connection ….. situation on 8. May, 5 months later: Problem persists.

It is also OK for Microsoft to consider if they shall spend time/money/effort to correct this problem (1.000 or even 1.000.000 claiming customers may be neglect able compared to 100 million or even 1 billion happy users), but shall it really be in the responsibility of Microsoft Forum Moderator "Michelle Heir" to decide this?

Several people who made great contributions to confirm and concretize these problems have already given up and you will find that last comments get more and more aggressive and angry and I hope you will understand that also for me the time has come to give up on Microsoft when again spending several hours for a very clear message will bring no result, neither in clear communication feedback nor in concrete results like an update that corrects this failure.

In a separate thread I have reported numerically wrong returns from a special Excel function existing at least since Excel 2004 and also there I have seen neither in communication nor in actual results any interest in Microsoft to get informed about such problems or work on its correction, because, my info is also 5 months old and I just tested it again on Excel.exe. Numerical results are still wrong!

In this sense, I hope you, Ryan, will be the hole in Microsoft’s obviously too high fence around its ivory tower, to bring these problems to the attention of the correct people within Microsoft with a clear feedback in due time.

***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.***

Ryan,

This thread is now 8 months old.

And 8 pages long.

Everyone's problem has been explained in detail.  We are ALL having the same problem.

Please give us a fix instead of having us rehash the issue.

Kim

(Original Thread Starter)

You can just launch Excel, press Ctrl+F (open Find window) and see that the worksheet isn't scrolling by mouse wheel if cursor is over the main window but Find dialog is active: you need to activate (click) worksheet's main window to scroll it. Any other programs except Excel don't need to activate window to scroll it - just put the mouse cursor over the window.

Hi Rob,

We would like to know more about the issue you're having trouble with. Can you provide us the exact problem and how it started? so that we can help you further.

We'll keep an eye out on your response.

Problem still exists - 7 months later - with Excel 2016 (7967.2139) and Windows 10 Creators Update (15063.138).

I've been fighting with it for 7 months because Excel is the only program where I use inactive-window scrolling and I assumed it was a Win10 error.  Imagine my surprise today when I accidentally scrolled an inactive window without Excel running...

...and as to "Michelle Her" (or whatever her real name is), I suspect this thread is abandoned because MS saw her utter incompetence and relieved her of further obligations...