Excel 2013- Right Click Problem

Question

Excel 2013 After one year, all of a sudden, down arrow and right click menus disappear before a selection can be made. Have others experienced this and if so, what was the solution?

Answer 1

If repair doesn't solve the issue, do following -

Please look into C:\Users\User_Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel (replace user name with your user name, you can directly reach here by copy and pasting following without quotes in Explorer address bar - "%appdata%\Microsoft\Excel") and see if is contains few files / folders. Move those files to some other location (i.e create a backup of those files / folders and delete all files / folders from here). Hence, make Excel folder blank. (If you don't want to move all files / folders, look for a file having the extension .xlb. Delete this or move somewhere else)

Now open the file and see if the problem disappears or not. 

Note - If the above path is not applicable for your installation, you need to find XLSTART path. Excel folder contains XLSTART folder in itself (In case, your XLSTART path is not in Appdata)

1. Open Excel
2. ALT+F11
3. If Immediate Window is not visible, type CTRL+G. Same can be also be accessed through View > Immediate Window
4. Type "? application.StartupPath" without quotes and press enter
5. You will have your path below.

Answer 2

E,

I tried both suggestions (which I appreciate). The program was completely re-downloaded and I removed all the folders/files that you recommended from the Excel Folder, but the problem persists. I even restored my Laptop to a Windows 7 restart point to a date that I know the program was working properly, but to no avail.

It started about 3 days ago. When I first open a XL file that I am working on, the first right click window usually stays open fairly well, but after the first right click, the rest only stay open a split second then closes before I can make a selection. I notice that the column that I am in, slightly blinks every second or so whether I am right clicked or just idle. The right click window disappears when this blink happens.

The only other unusual event that I believed happened a day or so  before the problem started was, a system window popped up while I was working on something else( unfortunately I didn't give it much attention), that said something like this "Do you want to change your color combination in Excel as windows cant handle the current colors" I answered no and replied not to ask again and went on. A day or two later the problem began. Does this ring a bell?

I solved the problem! and wanted to post what I found causing it , in case someone else is experiencing the same issue. After trying all the suggestions listed above, to no avail, Excel literally became useless to me. In the past, I have found that programs that "freebee programs," I had gotten on-line, had caused me all kinds of mischief, until I had uninstalled them. Out of desperation, I went to the Control Panel and selected "Programs & Features" and at the top of the page, selected "Installed On" to see if any programs had been installed on or about the time the "blinking" problem had begun, and lo and behold, I found that "Drop Box" had been installed on 8/15/17. This had been done without my knowledge or consent so, since I don't need it, I uninstalled the program and that solved my problem. I have no idea technically why Drop Box affected my Excel 2013, but it did. It may have just been a combination of my particular setup (older Dell Laptop, Windows 7, Excel 2013 with all the rest of my Office programs from an older version 2002-03 that still work for me).

Answer 3

I followed your suggestion and that of "E". I very much appreciate your response, but you suggestion did not solve my problem. "E" had a second suggestion which did not solve the problem either. See my response to him for further explanation of what is occurring and when. If these ring any Bells, I would love to hear from you. Thanks, Ken

Answer 4

E,

I tried both suggestions (which I appreciate). The program was completely re-downloaded and I removed all the folders/files that you recommended from the Excel Folder, but the problem persists. I even restored my Laptop to a Windows 7 restart point to a date that I know the program was working properly, but to no avail.

It started about 3 days ago. When I first open a XL file that I am working on, the first right click window usually stays open fairly well, but after the first right click, the rest only stay open a split second then closes before I can make a selection. I notice that the column that I am in, slightly blinks every second or so whether I am right clicked or just idle. The right click window disappears when this blink happens.

The only other unusual event that I believed happened a day or so  before the problem started was, a system window popped up while I was working on something else( unfortunately I didn't give it much attention), that said something like this "Do you want to change your color combination in Excel as windows cant handle the current colors" I answered no and replied not to ask again and went on. A day or two later the problem began. Does this ring a bell?

Answer 5

Hi,

There are several possible reasons that can cause this issue. One of these is a corrupted program file. Sometimes restarting your device fixes the issue.

If restarting doesn't fix it, we can still proceed to repairing the program.

Here are the steps:

1. Right-click the Start button (lower-left corner), and select Programs and Features on the pop-up menu.
2. Right-click the Microsoft Office product you want to repair, and select Change.
3. From the "How would you like to repair your Office Programs" screen, select Online Repair to make sure everything gets fixed, and then select Repair. The Quick Repair option is also available, which runs faster but only detects and then replaces corrupted files.
4. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete.

Let us know how it goes so that we can further assist you.