This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
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.
<Thread has been moved to the correct category by forum moderator>
A family of Microsoft spreadsheet software with tools for analyzing, charting, and communicating data.
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.
Anyone using the newer Excel 2019 and facing this exact issue?
We used to use Excel 2010 and I don't receive any complains about this. It is only after we switch to Excel 2016 that I received plenty of complains from users.
I have this same problem-- the enter key is a great thing to know! thanks.
My files are both excel 2016. Happens sometimes even with just one excel doc open. The focus somehow leaves my sheet, though I can select cells. In that case, I found I click on another sheet in the same document, and can type there, than I go back to the sheet I was working in, and can type again. Sometimes this happens multiple times a minute, sometimes it doesn't happen for days.
Just replying to say I am another person with this problem, that has been occurring for several years, with different files. It's pathetic, though predictable, that there is no resolution.
I appreciate the time and willingness to respond to this issue.
Thanks,
GH
I have this issue on a daily basis and i can agree with everyone, its highly annoying.
Im almost certain its a memory issue. I run numerous complex spreadsheets daily that contain large amounts of data, to solve this issue myself each time i have to simply close apps.
Just going through and closing other excel sheets i dont need right now or closing some google chrome tabs does tend to solve this issue.
In the absolute final case where i cant close anything else, i just save everything, close all docs and reopen what i need.
I would say these steps work 99.9% of the time for me. Hope they help you all too !