Excel cell characters keeps deleting itself while keying in and files (with macro) crashes software.

Question

• Problem 1 is that I can open general and new Excel files but am unable to key in cell information without the characters deleting when I hit the spacebar or should I hesitate when keying in.
• Problem 2 is that my files with Macro scripts throw up a warning window and crashes Excel should I accept the windows repair option. This is serious for me as my whole accounting, invoices and worklogs are Excel spreadsheets, which I have been using successfully on this iMac OS Lion machine since I bought it 3 months ago. (My previous computer was also a Mac running OS Tiger.)
• Made a new account and all Excel files opened fine and were completely usable.

I have outlined below the 'fix' events so far, all with negative results:

1. When problem occurred I removed the relevant Excel preference files and restarted.
2. Updated MS Office 2011.
3. Uninstalled 3 small programs I had installed recently, NCH, iSkysoft and Trusteer Rapport.
4. Manually uninstalled MS Office as per their website instructions and reinstalled.
5. Ran a repair in Disk Utilities.

Although as designer I use Adobe Creative suite, I really would like to cure this 'admin' problem as its badly effecting my productivity.

Answer 1

I tried that at the very first with no effect on my problem, also I fight shy of updates for their own sake unless there is a pressing bug/security problem. However, my local Apple retailer sent me this which appears to have cured the problem.

If you have tried a new user account and Excel works ok in that account it must be something in the original account.

I would suggest looking in ~/Library/. In Application Support delete the Microsoft folder. In Caches delete anything starting with com.microsoft or Microsoft Office. In Preferences delete anything com.microsoft or Microsoft or Office.

You should not need to reinstall Office as it is working in another user.

Regards Bob

My reply

I had already done this as well as completely uninstalling MS Office manually with no effect. However, I did as you suggested (again) and it is now working as it should so I must have missed something before.

Thanks for getting back to me and emphasising the must - which ultimately made me do it again and seems to have cured the problem.

Thanks to you both for taking an interest in my (hopefully never to return) problem. Nostrebor

Answer 2

The crash log indicates you are way behind on service updates. Go to the Excel Help menu and choose Check for Updates to launch the AutoUpdate utility. There are many updates you need to install before you try any other troubleshooting steps.

Answer 3

Thanks for the reply. Yes it still behaves badly when a new workbook is opened and I did remove the correct Library preferences and every file relative to MS office as per the manual uninstall directions on the MS Mac Office site instructions. The hidden library was not unknown to me so I was ready for that new Mac innovation. 

See below for first 2 paras of crash log, however, I am beginning to think what I have is a macro virus which means moving everything over to a new account while constantly checking files to see if I am also bringing the virus over. I use Clam virus software, but in 20 years with Macs I have only had a minor 'worms' virus. If you have another point of view I would be interested to hear it.

Microsoft Error Reporting log version: 2.0

Error Signature:

Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS

Date/Time: 2012-11-12 11:31:55 +0000

Application Name: Microsoft Excel

Application Bundle ID: com.microsoft.Excel

Application Signature: XCEL

Application Version: 14.1.0.110310

Crashed Module Name: Microsoft Excel

Crashed Module Version: 14.1.0.110310

Crashed Module Offset: 0x003a2cfe

Blame Module Name: Microsoft Excel

Blame Module Version: 14.1.0.110310

Blame Module Offset: 0x003a2cfe

Application LCID: 1033

Extra app info: Reg=en Loc=0x0409

Crashed thread: 0

Thread 0 crashed:

 1  0x003a3cfe in __mh_execute_header + 0x003A2CFE (Microsoft Excel + 0x003a2cfe)

 2  0x003a41c9 in __mh_execute_header + 0x003A31C9 (Microsoft Excel + 0x003a31c9)

 3  0x003a430e in __mh_execute_header + 0x003A330E (Microsoft Excel + 0x003a330e)

 4  0x00a80c01 in __mh_execute_header + 0x00A7FC01 (Microsoft Excel + 0x00a7fc01)

 5  0x003ccd0a in __mh_execute_header + 0x003CBD0A (Microsoft Excel + 0x003cbd0a)

 6  0x003d7288 in __mh_execute_header + 0x003D6288 (Microsoft Excel + 0x003d6288)

 7  0x003b2f37 in __mh_execute_header + 0x003B1F37 (Microsoft Excel + 0x003b1f37)

 8  0x003b7759 in __mh_execute_header + 0x003B6759 (Microsoft Excel + 0x003b6759)

 9  0x003b810a in __mh_execute_header + 0x003B710A (Microsoft Excel + 0x003b710a)

10  0x003b8a97 in __mh_execute_header + 0x003B7A97 (Microsoft Excel + 0x003b7a97)

11  0x003b8ff3 in __mh_execute_header + 0x003B7FF3 (Microsoft Excel + 0x003b7ff3)

12  0x00125a61 in __mh_execute_header + 0x00124A61 (Microsoft Excel + 0x00124a61)

13  0x00a0c30d in __mh_execute_header + 0x00A0B30D (Microsoft Excel + 0x00a0b30d)

14  0x01b8d621 in _CEAEInstallAppleEventHandler + 0x0000093C (MicrosoftComponentPlugin + 0x00027621)

15  0x9920ec0c in _InvokeEventHandlerUPP(OpaqueEventHandlerCallRef*, OpaqueEventRef*, void*, long (*)(OpaqueEventHandlerCallRef*, OpaqueEventRef*, void*)) + 0x00000024 (HIToolbox + 0x0018cc0c)

16  0x9908a313 in __ZL23DispatchEventToHandlersP14EventTargetRecP14OpaqueEventRefP14HandlerCallRec + 0x00000642 (HIToolbox + 0x00008313)

17  0x99089790 in __ZL30SendEventToEventTargetInternalP14OpaqueEventRefP20OpaqueEventTargetRefP14HandlerCallRec + 0x000001E2 (HIToolbox + 0x00007790)

18  0x9909e571 in _SendEventToEventTarget + 0x0000004C (HIToolbox + 0x0001c571)

19  0x01b8d0ba in _CEAEInstallAppleEventHandler + 0x000003D5 (MicrosoftComponentPlugin + 0x000270ba)

20  0x9883f045 in aeDispatchAppleEvent(AEDesc const*, AEDesc*, unsigned long, unsigned char*) + 0x000000CA (AE + 0x0001a045)

21  0x98828b67 in __ZL25dispatchEventAndSendReplyPK6AEDescPS_ + 0x0000002B (AE + 0x00003b67)

22  0x98828a54 in _aeProcessAppleEvent + 0x000000FD (AE + 0x00003a54)

23  0x99093a86 in _AEProcessAppleEvent + 0x00000067 (HIToolbox + 0x00011a86)

24  0x00040387 in __mh_execute_header + 0x0003F387 (Microsoft Excel + 0x0003f387)

25  0x00eaab99 in __mh_execute_header + 0x00EA9B99 (Microsoft Excel + 0x00ea9b99)

26  0x000f95b7 in __mh_execute_header + 0x000F85B7 (Microsoft Excel + 0x000f85b7)

27  0x01b6e3a9 in MHIView::InitializeEventHandler() + 0x000001CB (MicrosoftComponentPlugin + 0x000083a9)

28  0x9920ec0c in _InvokeEventHandlerUPP(OpaqueEventHandlerCallRef*, OpaqueEventRef*, void*, long (*)(OpaqueEventHandlerCallRef*, OpaqueEventRef*, void*)) + 0x00000024 (HIToolbox + 0x0018cc0c)

29  0x9908a313 in __ZL23DispatchEventToHandlersP14EventTargetRecP14OpaqueEventRefP14HandlerCallRec + 0x00000642 (HIToolbox + 0x00008313)

30  0x99089790 in __ZL30SendEventToEventTargetInternalP14OpaqueEventRefP20OpaqueEventTargetRefP14HandlerCallRec + 0x000001E2 (HIToolbox + 0x00007790)

31  0x990895a8 in _SendEventToEventTargetWithOptions + 0x0000004B (HIToolbox + 0x000075a8)

32  0x9909f1c6 in __ZL29ToolboxEventDispatcherHandlerP25OpaqueEventHandlerCallRefP14OpaqueEventRefPv + 0x00000C50 (HIToolbox + 0x0001d1c6)

33  0x9908a7ce in __ZL23DispatchEventToHandlersP14EventTargetRecP14OpaqueEventRefP14HandlerCallRec + 0x00000AFD (HIToolbox + 0x000087ce)

34  0x99089790 in __ZL30SendEventToEventTargetInternalP14OpaqueEventRefP20OpaqueEventTargetRefP14HandlerCallRec + 0x000001E2 (HIToolbox + 0x00007790)

35  0x9909e571 in _SendEventToEventTarget + 0x0000004C (HIToolbox + 0x0001c571)

36  0x01bacd5d in _McpRunApplicationEventLoop + 0x00002E27 (MicrosoftComponentPlugin + 0x00046d5d)

37  0x01baa3ca in _McpRunApplicationEventLoop + 0x00000494 (MicrosoftComponentPlugin + 0x000443ca)

38  0x000e9576 in __mh_execute_header + 0x000E8576 (Microsoft Excel + 0x000e8576)

39  0x000e950a in __mh_execute_header + 0x000E850A (Microsoft Excel + 0x000e850a)

40  0x00003698 in __mh_execute_header + 0x00002698 (Microsoft Excel + 0x00002698)

41  0x000034ca in __mh_execute_header + 0x000024CA (Microsoft Excel + 0x000024ca)

X86 Thread State:

eax: 0x081ce4d8  ebx: 0x003a3ab3  ecx: 0x00000000  edx:0x00000000

edi: 0x00000000  esi: 0x01788f84  ebp: 0xbfff1aa8  esp:0xbfff1660

ss: 0x00000023  eip: 0x003a3cfe   cs: 0x0000001b   ds:0x00000023

es: 0x00000023   fs: 0x00000000   gs: 0x0000000f  eflags:0x00010286

Answer 4

Hey Nostrebor,

If you create a new workbook in Excel and try to use the spacebar in a cell, does it still delete the contents? I'd like to know if this is specific to existing workbooks or if it still occurs in brand new workbooks.

As for your second issue, can you copy and paste the first few paragraphs of the crash log?

It's really great to know that this issue is user specific. That means your install is okay, but you have a preference somewhere that's corrupt. I understand that you've already removed the Excel preferences, but it is absolutely critical that you look in the correct Library folder for these preference files.

Many users will mistake the System Library folder for the User Library folder. Since Apple hides the User Library in Lion and up, this is a very easy mistake to make.

To find the correct Library folder, follow the steps below:

1. With Finder open, choose Go > Go to Folder
2. Copy and paste the following and hit Go:

~/Library 3. See if you can properly find the Microsoft folder and plist files.

If you need a refresher about which preferences you need to remove, see Steps 1 and 2 on the following link:

**Excel for Mac error: "The application Microsoft Excel quit unexpectedly"**

Hope this helps!