Why is Excel selecting a different cell when I click?

Turner, Dean 0 Reputation points
2025-08-08T11:43:07.79+00:00

often, The cell above the one I am trying to edit is selected. Re-starting Excel seems to fix it, but this is happening pretty frequently

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For business | Windows
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  1. Tamara-Hu 1,015 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-08-08T12:47:13.14+00:00

    Hello @Turner, Dean

    Thank you for posting your valuable question on Microsoft Q&A forum. 

    I'm sincerely sorry that you're going through this frustrating issue. 

    This issue has been reported by Microsoft users, and each case seems to have a different solution. You can try the suggestions below, as they have helped others resolve the problem: 

    Check Zoom Level 

    • Go to the View tab. 
    • Click Zoom and set it to 100% or 125%. 
    • Try clicking cells again to see if the issue persists. 

    Disable Extend Selection Mode 

    • Press the F8 key once to toggle off Extend Selection Mode. 
    • Alternatively, press Esc to exit any active selection mode. 

    Unfreeze Panes 

    • Go to the View tab. 
    • Click Freeze Panes > Unfreeze Panes. 

    Frozen panes can sometimes interfere with cell selection. 

    Disable Add-ins 

    • Go to File > Options > Add-ins. 
    • At the bottom, select COM Add-ins and click Go. 
    • Uncheck all add-ins and restart Excel. 

    Check for Scroll Lock 

    • Press the Scroll Lock key on your keyboard. 
    • If your keyboard doesn’t have one, open the On-Screen Keyboard (osk) and toggle it off. 

    Try Safe Mode 

    • Close Excel. 
    • Hold Ctrl and open Excel to launch in Safe Mode. 
    • This disables add-ins and macros temporarily. 

    If the issue still persists, please confirm this information so that I can guide you with further troubleshooting steps: 

    • Are you using a personal account or work/school account (gmail, hotmail, yahoo,… or your account have a company or school name)?  
    • What is your current Excel version? 
    • Is this issue happening on a specific file or on every file? 
    • Did you try switching to Excel on the web and this issue still persists? 

    Please understand that our initial response does not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution. 


    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment". 

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  2. Tamara-Hu 1,015 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-08-11T12:07:26+00:00

    Hi @Turner, Dean,
    Thanks for your response.
    As I mentioned above, Check Zoom Level can resolve the issue. But maybe just temporally. I know this can be inconvenient when the issue still happens after a while.

    You have a good point about how this issue may related to the graphics. I encourage you to submit feedback and upvote existing feature requests to show demand for updating this feature for the community at Excel · Community. The Product Team is in-charge of the feedback site, and they are constantly checking the comments and feedback from our customer. Many features have been developed or improved based on users' comment. 

    In the meantime, please kindly use the workarounds I provided to solve your issue temporally. I will also forward your feedback to the appropriate team for further consideration.  
    Thank you for your understanding so far! 


    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment". 

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