This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Excel selects multiple cells instead of one (cells are not merged) - When clicking on a cell, Excel will select multiple cells around the intended selection. Also, the number of cells automatically selected and position of the selection is random each time the intended cell is clicked on.
Shift + Arrow Keys will select correctly but is not practical to use every time.
A family of Microsoft spreadsheet software with tools for analyzing, charting, and communicating data.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Answer accepted by question author
Might be EXT mode - touch F8 to clear this
Might be Sticky Keys - touch SHFT 5 times to clear this
gsnu201004
Answer accepted by question author
To expand on EXT mode: Regarding EXT mode this is turned on or off in 2007 by pressing F8. It is also called Extend Selection in 2007 or later and if the Selection Mode option has been turned on for Excel's status bar you will see "Extend Selection" displayed. This mode can also be turned off by pressing Esc.
If this answer solves your problem, please check Mark as Answered. If this answer helps, please click the Vote as Helpful button. Cheers, Shane Devenshire
I see your using e2007 in which some people have reported a possible bug which causes this behavour. Adjusting the zoom level up then down then back to the required setting is reported to clear it.
If this post answers your question, please mark it as the Answer.
Mike H
Bless you!!!! I was going crzy trying to clear this. Ext mode was not on and those ideas did not fix it. Your solution of the zoom up and then down worked immediately. Thank you-thankyou!!!!
I have had this problem too but I have worked out what the cause is and an easy work around.
The problem occurs on page layout view when you have the page break close to the bottom of the screen. i.e. a couple of cm of the page below visible at the bottom margin of your viewport. You can try this out, scrolling the view up or down solves the problem (also zooming in or out).
A better solution however is to remove white spaces or the page margins. Simply click in the area between the two pages. "hide white space". This solves the problem, additional cells will not be highlighted.
This works regardless or zoom level or whether F8 is activated.