XL97: Cursor and Cell Disappear Editing Text in Cell

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you double-click a cell to edit text in the cell, the formula bar expands to display the text, the cursor disappears, and the cell you are editing is hidden by the text in the formula bar.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when you double-click a cell that contains a large amount of text. The text and the pointer is hidden behind the expanded formula bar. Note that the cell contents appear in the formula bar, which expands display all the text in the cell.

RESOLUTION

To work around this problem, use either of the following methods.

Method 1: If you are using a pointer device such as a mouse or a trackball,

          click the formula bar to display the insertion point.

          To do this, click Formula Bar on the View menu. This command
          toggles the formula bar off.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

In Microsoft Excel 97, the maximum number of characters that you can type in a single cell is 32,767. In earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, the limit is 255.

The formula bar can display the entire contents of a single cell by expanding downward into the worksheet. The greater the number of characters in the cell, the larger the formula bar must expand to display the cell contents. Note that the formula bar can overlap and hide portions of the worksheet if there are a lot of characters in the cell.

REFERENCES

For more information about editing cell contents, click the Index tab in Microsoft Excel Help, type the following text

   cells, entering data in