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
    2020-06-30T20:36:52+00:00

    That is what I have to do, but when it happens hundreds of times in an 8 hour day it really slows down productivity. And morale.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-06-30T16:09:18+00:00

    Hi,

    You can also click enter while you are in the freezed excel and it will automatically shift to another file that you have open. After, if you go back to the initial excel, you will be able to edit cells. 

    Thanks for your reply. 

    That’s what I end up doing but it’s very annoying when you have to do it several times in one day.

    I hope MS finds a real solution to the problem!

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-06-30T15:04:00+00:00

    Hi,

    You can also click enter while you are in the freezed excel and it will automatically shift to another file that you have open. After, if you go back to the initial excel, you will be able to edit cells.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-06-30T14:52:28+00:00

    Having the very same problem today :/ Has anyone found a reliable fix for this yet? Come on Microsoft. We pay a lot of money for your products

    I have done an RCA and found a work-around. At least, this work-around consistently works for me. 

    For me, this issue typically occurred when I had multiple spread sheets open. When it sort of freezes, I just go to another spread sheet, click on any random cell and come back to the original spread sheet and click on any random cell and voila, the problem is solved and I was able to edit again. 

    Hope it helps everyone.

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-06-30T13:30:21+00:00

    Excel formula bar will not allow me to put information in the spreadsheets.

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