How do I fix a white cross cursor in excel 365

Question

How do I fix a white cross cursor in excel 365?

It's on the online and desktop versions for this one user. It's not The Fill handle issue. It's not the mouse. It will not go away.

Answer 1

Hi @James, Steven

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum. 

I understand how frustrating it must be when the cursor is stuck as a white cross instead of changing to the normal pointers you expect. Let's try to figure this out together. 

To help me scope down the issue, could you please clarify a couple of things for me? 

Does the white cross cursor also appear when you move your mouse over the top ribbon bar (where the File, Home, Insert tabs are), or is it only stuck within the Excel grid. Would it be possible for you to share a screenshot of what you are seeing on your screen? 

In the meantime, here are a few standard troubleshooting steps you can try. These often resolve common cursor-related issues in Excel. 

Disable "Extend Selection" Mode: This mode can sometimes be turned on by accident. Please look at the Status Bar at the very bottom-left of your Excel window. If you see the words "Extend Selection", please press the F8 key on your keyboard once to turn it off. 

Update Microsoft Office: Ensuring you have the latest updates can fix known bugs. Please go to File > Account > Update Options and select "Update Now". 

Run Excel in Safe Mode: This starts Excel without loading any add-ins, which can sometimes cause conflicts. To do this, press the Windows Key + R to open the Run box, type excel.exe /safe and press Enter. Check if the cursor behaves normally in Safe Mode. 

Clear the Office Cache: A simple way to clear potentially corrupted cache files is by performing a "Quick Repair" of your Office installation. Go to Windows Settings > Apps, find your Microsoft 365 Apps installation, click it, select "Modify", and then choose "Quick Repair". 

I'm looking forward to your reply! 

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Answer 2

Hi @James, Steven

I'm sorry to hear that the previous troubleshooting steps didn't resolve the issue. I've spent the last couple of days testing this on my end, and I have a significant update for you.

I was able to successfully reproduce the exact same issue where the cursor gets stuck as a white cross. After some testing, I found a solution that is a bit counter-intuitive but worked to fix the problem in my test environment. The solution is to toggle the "Enable fill handle and cell drag-and-drop" setting OFF and then ON again, which seems to force Excel to reset the cursor's state.

Could you please try the following specific steps?

Step 1: Turn the Setting OFF

1. Go to File > Options > Advanced.
2. Find the option "Enable fill handle and cell drag-and-drop".
3. Uncheck this box to disable it, and then click OK.

Note: The cursor will likely still be a white cross at this point. This is expected.

Step 2: Turn the Setting back ON

1. Go back to File > Options > Advanced one more time.
2. Find the same option and check the box again to re-enable it.
3. Click OK.

After completing Step 2, please check if your cursor has returned to normal.

I'm very hopeful that this will work for you as it did for me. Please let me know the result when you have a chance.

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