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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Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-01-16T15:30:28+00:00

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-01-16T00:02:51+00:00

    It would be easier to just switch to another excel file and then back to your original to continue.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-01-15T17:47:46+00:00

    Open excel and choose file name you have been working on in excel and open it , all should be fine to continue typing into your boxes.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-12-20T18:22:37+00:00

    Hello OngBL,

    I am using Trend Micro.  If I turn of my anti virus, I think my Admin would kill me.  As for the reinstall idea.  My computer is whomping 2 years old and if I have to wipe and clean to in hopes the excel issue goes away, but it might not...I don't know ...If I asked my Admin to do that I think she will kill me again.... Would like to live another day ....Microsoft please help!

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-12-18T14:41:27+00:00

    Hi there, your post gave me an idea about this issue.

    Are you by any chance using Symantec Endpoint and most of your files are on the network?

    It seems that Symantec Endpoint has features to scan network shares and they are in the virus and spyware protection portion and I believe Proactive Threat Protection. If you are using other antivirus application, do they have network share scan as well?

    Could it be causing the problem with excel shares? I have tried disabling the network share scan feature for the  computers and will monitor.

    Thank you Alexander - I am not alone with this issue but this week the problem became so intrusive that I had to take drastic measures.  Incidentally, I do not think the issue arises from the network share feature, but I will await any future post from you with interest.

    To eradicate the problem on my machine I reset my PC back to its original 2013 state.  It had been upgraded to Windows 10 last year.  This meant that after the re-set, I had to re-install all my apps, including McAfee LiveSafe, but it was a good opportunity to clean out a lot of accumulated rubbish.

    For 3 days now my PC is much quicker and there are no issues with Excel.  My advice to anyone thinking of trying this is to ensure that you have all your Microsoft, Google, AntiVirus, etc. registration data to hand to re-install the apps that you depend on for daily use, before you start.  I did have some issues resetting my wifi network adapter but if this "Re-set PC" solution resolves my Excel problem, it will have been worth it.

    If the problem returns, I will post again on this forum!

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