Excel 2007 : Clicking on a cell auto-selects the cell next to it, cannot disable

**Munificent K. Factor** · 11-16-2010, 11:43 PM

Greetings,

I work in a computer lab, and a student is having a rather bizarre problem.

Whenever she clicks on a cell, the cell to the right of it is also selected. When she tries using tab to move to a new cell, she can only move between the two selected cells. Same with using the enter key. As such, it is extremely difficult for her to modify only one cell, since she always has two selected.

I looked around on the internet, and found a few suggestions. Namely, the F8 key, as well as Ctrl+F8. However, pressing the F8 key only adds more cells to the autoselection, and Ctrl+F8 allows her to select one cell, but also highlights the cells around it, and when we tried to select other cells, every cell we clicked stayed highlighted.

Additionally, sometimes when she clicks a cell, it will just select that one cell. Click it again, and the problem is back. I haven't been able to determine any patterns to this behavior, and I know there is no problem with the input (the keyboard and mouse are standard-issue in our lab, and we keep them well maintained). She doesn't remember the exact moment the problem began, so I don't know what to undo.

Any help would be appreciated.

**davesexcel** · 11-16-2010, 11:53 PM

Click a few times on the Scroll wheel on the mouse, see if that solves the problem.

**Munificent K. Factor** · 11-16-2010, 11:56 PM

Didn't work.

**Munificent K. Factor** · 11-17-2010, 07:45 PM

Bump.

I'm still looking for a solution to this problem; I can't even figure out how to recreate it on my own.

**Steve Jones56** · 01-10-2011, 06:30 AM

Has the problem been resolved yet, as I have encountered exactly the same issue.

**trynittee** · 02-08-2011, 07:33 PM

Hi,

The solution is really as the first responder noted:

Click on the scroll wheel on the mouse and go towards cell A1. When you get there, click on cell a1. Only that cell will remain selected. Save your document so the new selection range (one cell) is saved. I only focus on cell A1 as I couldn't get it to stop selecting more than one cell until I went to A1. It may resolve for each user differently depending on how many cells are being selected in the range when the scroll feature was accidentally started.

How to recreate the situation: click on the wheel anywhere in the spreadsheet and start selecting adjacent cells. The craziness will start. I have no idea what the original purpose of the feature was for, but I would guess that the accidental clicking on the wheel when using Excel has resulted in far more craziness than the feature originally intended.

**Steve Jones56** · 02-09-2011, 05:44 AM

I found that by changing from page layout to normal view solved the problem

**trynittee** · 02-09-2011, 02:19 PM

Apologies.

I posted above and it works until I save, and then it reverts back. It does work, until it is saved... ????

I have had success with the previous poster's suggestion of staying in Normal View. When I return to Page layout view, the situation returns. At least I can save and work on the file though and have one cell select at a time.

I look forward to seeing someone solve this....

**sibell** · 02-10-2014, 11:15 PM

I tried F8, Ctrl F8, changing zoom level and clicking scroll button on mouse - none of these worked. However, changing the View from "Page Layout" view to "Normal" view did work! I was then able to return to "Page Layout" view, without the problem recurring. Using Excel 2007.