Glitches with Excel in Leopard

[designer0529]

After a few minutes of working on a spreadsheet, I can't get keyboard
commands to work. I have to go to the menu and "save" and then exit
the program, then start it up again to get keyboard commands back.
Over and over and over.

 

[Michael T]

After a few minutes of working on a spreadsheet, I can't get keyboard
commands to work. I have to go to the menu and "save" and then exit
the program, then start it up again to get keyboard commands back.
Over and over and over.

I'm having some weird issues with Excel 2004 as well on my iMac 24"
alum body with OS 10.5.1 and v11.3.7 of Excel. When I print a
spreadsheet, nothing prints, I get a blank sheet. If I look at the
sheet with print preview, the entire preview window is white with the
exception of a blue rectangular area in the upper left corner. This
happens on multiple files that have been created since upgrading to
Leopard, but not on older spreadsheets. Also, the same file does not
have this issue on my MacBook (black) with the same OS and version of
Excel.

Any thoughts here?

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi Designer,

I'm not aware of any Excel problems with Leopard, so let's start with the
routine kinds of solutions. Start at the top and work your way down:

http://mcgimpsey.com/macoffice/excel/troubleshooting.html

But even before doing these I would run DiskWarrior and see what it has to
say about things.

-Jim


Quoting from "(e-mail address removed)"

After a few minutes of working on a spreadsheet, I can't get keyboard
commands to work. I have to go to the menu and "save" and then exit
the program, then start it up again to get keyboard commands back.
Over and over and over.

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi Michael,

Leopard requires new printer drivers from some manufacturers. HP driver
updates are delivered by Apple's software update, but other brands require a
trip to the web site of the printer manufacturer to get the latest updates.

Try updating the printer driver and see if that solves the problem.

-Jim

I'm having some weird issues with Excel 2004 as well on my iMac 24"
alum body with OS 10.5.1 and v11.3.7 of Excel. When I print a
spreadsheet, nothing prints, I get a blank sheet. If I look at the
sheet with print preview, the entire preview window is white with the
exception of a blue rectangular area in the upper left corner. This
happens on multiple files that have been created since upgrading to
Leopard, but not on older spreadsheets. Also, the same file does not
have this issue on my MacBook (black) with the same OS and version of
Excel.

Any thoughts here?

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[duahad]

After a few minutes of working on a spreadsheet, I can't get keyboard
commands to work. I have to go to the menu and "save" and then exit
the program, then start it up again to get keyboard commands back.
Over and over and over.

I am also having the same problem. Have you resolved the issue?

 

[Michael T]

Jim,

Thanks for the information. I can now print from Excel to my Brother
HL-2070N laser printer, but still not from my MFC-5440CN. I can't
tell if version 1.20 of the MFC-5440CN driver is the most current or
not, but that's all I can get loaded. Other programs (eg., Adobe,
Word) can print to the 5440, but not Excel. Any other thoughts?

mt

Hi Michael,

Leopard requires new printer drivers from some manufacturers. HP driver
updates are delivered by Apple's software update, but other brands require a
trip to the web site of the printer manufacturer to get the latest updates.

Try updating the printer driver and see if that solves the problem.

-Jim

Quoting from "Michael T" <[email protected]>, in article
(e-mail address removed), on [DATE:

I'm having some weird issues with Excel 2004 as well on my iMac 24"
alum body with OS 10.5.1 and v11.3.7 of Excel. When I print a
spreadsheet, nothing prints, I get a blank sheet. If I look at the
sheet with print preview, the entire preview window is white with the
exception of a blue rectangular area in the upper left corner. This
happens on multiple files that have been created since upgrading to
Leopard, but not on older spreadsheets. Also, the same file does not
have this issue on my MacBook (black) with the same OS and version of
Excel.

Any thoughts here?

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP infohttp://mvp.support.microsoft.com/

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi Michael,

It's a very long shot - but maybe if you used a different font in the
workbook it might help.

-Jim

Jim,

Thanks for the information. I can now print from Excel to my Brother
HL-2070N laser printer, but still not from my MFC-5440CN. I can't
tell if version 1.20 of the MFC-5440CN driver is the most current or
not, but that's all I can get loaded. Other programs (eg., Adobe,
Word) can print to the 5440, but not Excel. Any other thoughts?

mt

Hi Michael,

Leopard requires new printer drivers from some manufacturers. HP driver
updates are delivered by Apple's software update, but other brands require a
trip to the web site of the printer manufacturer to get the latest updates.

Try updating the printer driver and see if that solves the problem.

-Jim

Quoting from "Michael T" <[email protected]>, in article
(e-mail address removed), on [DATE:

On Nov 19, 11:03 pm, (e-mail address removed) wrote:
After a few minutes of working on a spreadsheet, I can't get keyboard
commands to work. I have to go to the menu and "save" and then exit
the program, then start it up again to get keyboard commands back.
Over and over and over.

I'm having some weird issues with Excel 2004 as well on my iMac 24"
alum body with OS 10.5.1 and v11.3.7 of Excel. When I print a
spreadsheet, nothing prints, I get a blank sheet. If I look at the
sheet with print preview, the entire preview window is white with the
exception of a blue rectangular area in the upper left corner. This
happens on multiple files that have been created since upgrading to
Leopard, but not on older spreadsheets. Also, the same file does not
have this issue on my MacBook (black) with the same OS and version of
Excel.

Any thoughts here?

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP infohttp://mvp.support.microsoft.com/

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[Bras]

Try setting the print quality to 600 DPI or 300 DPI (instead of high) in the
print dialog box (file -> print).
Bras

 

[designer0529]

I am also having the same problem. Have you resolved the issue?

No. I tried re-installing the software. No luck. There's a Leopard
problem.
patrick

 

[Leadkappy]

At the beginning of 12/07 I bought an iMAC. A few weeks later I purchased MAS-Office for Student &amp; Teacher. I used bootcamp to create a PC side and an Apple side. I moved my excel workbooks to the apple side with a problem. They worked for about 2 weeks. One of my files is password protected. I have used this password on this file for over 10 years. However, Excel is not recognizing that password. Do you have any ideas on how to get into my workbook?

 

[JE McGimpsey]

At the beginning of 12/07 I bought an iMAC. A few weeks later I purchased
MAS-Office for Student &amp; Teacher. I used bootcamp to create a PC side
and an Apple side. I moved my excel workbooks to the apple side with a
problem. They worked for about 2 weeks. One of my files is password
protected. I have used this password on this file for over 10 years.
However, Excel is not recognizing that password. Do you have any ideas on
how to get into my workbook?

If it worked for two weeks and suddenly stopped, and you're *positive*
you're using the same (correct) password, the file has probably been
corrupted, in which case you'll have to use your backup (you *do* have
the file set to back up every time you save, right?.

OTOH, any XL password can be cracked fairly easily (trivially easily for
internal passwords, with a minimum of work for file passwords).

AFAIK, there are no free utilities (which work fine for simple or very
short passwords) for Mac. You can google for Win versions.

More complex or longer passwords can be cracked for a small fee by
commercial providers, usually in less time than it takes to enter your
credit card number. See

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/fileandvbapwords.html

for a link to one.

 

[Jeff McKinnon]

Having a passworded excel file that I cannot open because the keyboard is not responding in the password area or the keyboard is sending the wrong information to Excel. I have dropped back to my G3 and resaved the files without passwords and migrated them to my new Mac Mini. They open fine without password protection. I then Saved As with the password and again the keyboard at times does not enter data in the password field. Canceling the file and reopening it sometimes works. Ouch!! Is this a keyboard, Excel, Leopard, or intel processor G5 issue? Are the above keyboard issues the same or related?

 

[Laura P.]

All of a sudden, my brand-new Excel 2004 Student and Teacher Edition will not open because it looks like a Classic Application. Word, Powerpoint, and the others seem fine -- what gives with Excel?

Anyone have a clue?

Laura

 

[REECO]

Excel 2008 and Leopard (I could also list other programs i.e. QuickBooks Pro) do not mix. MS got my money and now will not respond to any request to provide workarounds to their problems with their Excel.
Save your money until MS finally figures out what their problems are with their antiquated software.

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Excel 2008 and Leopard (I could also list other programs i.e. QuickBooks Pro)
do not mix. MS got my money and now will not respond to any request to provide
workarounds to their problems with their Excel.
Save your money until MS finally figures out what their problems are with
their antiquated software.

It¹s up to you to tell them what the problems are, they can¹t guess. Use
Send feedback in the help menu. If you want your money back, there are
provisions for this in the EULA. Contact your supplier to get a refund.

 

[REECO]

This product speaks for itself. I did not see the disclaimer that I was buying a beta version. The problems are too basic to think that these would not be experienced by a little trail/testing prior to the release. MS is know for their "throw it on the wall and see if it will stick".
Obviously, you and I will always differ on this issue.
As I said before, the product speaks for itself. The CUSTOMER is the one that pays the high ticket and gets the low product.
Again, I am just alerting the unexpected CUSTOMER that they will be buying a product at this stage which will create too many problems for the money spent. So Buyer Beware - Keep using your previous version until the fully tested and modified, non-beta version is released. I will guess 2-3 months.

 

[Armo]

Having major problems with Excel in Leopard, pivot tables freeze the whole G5 Mac, Keyboard stops working and documents I managed to edit and save before a crash will not now open. Lets all hope the bug fixes arrive soon !

 

[Robert Frank]

I have a MacBook Pro that I got last summer. Great machine and no problems with Excel. Then I load Leopard and I have the problems other describe. ONLY in Excel does the keyboard freeze up. If I click on some other application then I can go back to Excel--sometimes for a while, sometimes only for one entry. Apple has suggested deleting Microsoft font file ( /user/library/preferences/Microsoft and find the file "Office font cache". Move the file to trash, empty the trash, and reboot.) but that didn't fix the problem. It is a real pain in the butt for those of us who use Excel a lot. Does anyone know if the problem persists in Mac's Numbers program? Does anyone have a fix?

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I have a MacBook Pro that I got last summer. Great machine and no problems
with Excel. Then I load Leopard and I have the problems other describe. ONLY
in Excel does the keyboard freeze up. If I click on some other application
then I can go back to Excel--sometimes for a while, sometimes only for one
entry. Apple has suggested deleting Microsoft font file (
/user/library/preferences/Microsoft and find the file "Office font cache".
Move the file to trash, empty the trash, and reboot.) but that didn't fix the
problem. It is a real pain in the butt for those of us who use Excel a lot.
Does anyone know if the problem persists in Mac's Numbers program? Does
anyone have a fix?

No idea about Numbers - though since it's a new problem, it really can't
"persist". Check an Apple-related newsgroup.

I'm not sure which "problems that other describe" you're talking about.
In the archives, I can find only two posts that talked about keyboards
freezing in XL. Those posts referred to Mac Pros, the freezing was
temporary (10-45 seconds), and limited to entry in the formula bar, and
there's no indication there was any resolution. Perhaps I missed some,
though - can you cite a reference?

Which version (and update) of XL? Have you updated to OS X 10.5.1? Are
you using the built-in keyboard? What keyboard settings are you using?

Does the same problem happen if you log into another user account?

Do you get the spinning beach ball?

What does Activity Monitor indicate about XL's CPU use? Are there other
high-use processes?

Is there any particular activity you're trying to do when the freeze
occurs (e.g., data entry, scrolling, entry in the formula bar, etc.)?

Do you have any custom keyboard shortcuts that could cause this (either
within XL or with System Preferences/Keyboard and Mouse/Keyboard
Shortcuts)?

When you switch away to another app, can you switch back again
immediately, or is there a delay?

When you say "those of us" - do you know others that are experiencing
the same problem?

 

[Bertrand]

I am having problems with Excel 2008 on 10.5.1 PPC. It does not remember the cell formats from closing and opening the file.

Hopefully someone can reproduce the problem. When I create a new document and have the format be for consecutive columns be: date (centered), general (centered), accounting, accounting, accounting. After closing the file and opening it up again the date format column is all of a sudden accounting.

Should I uninstall Office 2004? It isn't a trial version so I didn't think it would be necessary...

Thanks