Excel 2016 - Cannot type anything into a cell all of a sudden

Anonymous
2017-04-14T07:08:05+00:00

Hi,

I am experiencing a problem with Excel 2016 that is really frustrating.

I am working normally in excel 2016, when all of a sudden I cannot type anything into a cell. If I press Ecs nothing happens. I do not have macros, nor protected sheet or cells. I am working with multiple (2 or more) open excel files at the same time. I tried to figure out, if I press some combination of keys that would cause this, but found nothing. I, however, can move the mouse over the sheet and click different cells. I think the arrow keys work as well.

The strange thing that always "solves" the problem is pressing Enter. Pressing the Enter opens another Excel file that is already opened, and after simply going back to the first one, I then can work on normally. This can occur once, twice but sometimes even 10-times in a single day! Just terrible.

This is time demanding, many times I write into a cell and then see that the cell is still blank, I press the enter to make it work again, going back... - I cannot work like this.

When I was working with the same files in Excel 2013 and 2010 I hadn't have experienced such problems. 

I already read some other forums with people experiencing the same problem, but haven't found any solution yet.

Do you have any?

Thank you!

P.

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-08-05T01:24:27+00:00

    Three years later, this is STILL an issue! 

    I have had this exact same problem today 5.8.20. Working on a new SurfacePro - plenty of capacity. Only one workbook open. Never had this happen before. It was just weird. I was working normally and all of a sudden, for no apparent reason, I could no longer type into any cell. Found this forum and saw that this has been a known issue for years which Microsoft has never fixed. The only thing I did prior to the glitch was install the "Wrap text" command on the quick access ribbon. Hardly something that will affect typing into a cell. I took it off the ribbon but it made no difference. 

    Another weird issue this week is Excel showing thin black checkered bands on my display!! ****? Sometimes sections of the file are covered by what can only be described as 'blank boxes' that obscure whatever you would normally see as you are looking at your file on the screen. Clicking anywhere on the screen causes the display to go back to normal. This is so consistent and pervasive that it happens all day long. Is anyone else seeing the same thing?

    It feels like the Microsoft software has been taken over by some kind of weird AI bot that wants to send us all mad.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-07-18T22:01:34+00:00

    I've been running into this the last few days, AutoSave being off.

    Switching to a different worksheet, clicking on that sheet, and going back to the problem sheet has fixed it for me.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-07-09T19:59:50+00:00

    It's obvious that many people have this problem. The truth is that Microsoft should not be allowed to sell this product without sorting it, although I don't know who could pass and enforce such a ruling.

    I wonder if everyone has the same problem or are there some who don't have the problem? If so, what makes the difference?

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-02-25T17:40:46+00:00

    I got trapped in the same pit using Excel 2019. I was working as usual when suddendly I wasn't able to type in any cell of any file anymore. Only in Excel, as if the keyboard was disconnected. I closed the file, it didn't help. I closed Excel, it didn't help either. Then I googled the issue and landed onto this page. 

    I read the support's hints and the user's commens I then tried to open Excel in safe mode, didn't help.

    The next support's hint was to completely uninstall Office  and re-install it. I was not keen on doing that.

    So I thougt... and found the solution.

    I closed Excel, opened the tasked manager, looking for remaining Excel threads... and found two.

    I killed them, and then upon restarting Excel the issue was gone.

    WITHOUT RE-INSTALLING ANYTHING !!!

    The whole trouble didn't even last 5 minutes !

    I cannot be 100% that my issue is exactly the same as the user's since I am using Excel 2019 but, if the issue is the same, and they really look alike, this is a very weak support from Microsoft.

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-12-14T11:03:13+00:00

    Hi All,

    Seems this thread has been running and running without a resolution.  I have had the same issue reported by our O365 users and I have been unable to find a resolution (very embarrassing).  I am posting in this forum in the hope that it adds more weight to the cause and I would encourage others to do the same!

    As this bug must be effecting millions of its loyal users, I call on Microsoft to prioritise this issue and invest some tech time into finding a resolution.

    Over to you Microsoft!

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