Excel Data Types Not Working

Question

Updated 12/19/2022

Data Types are currently not working as expected for all users of Microsoft Excel. The work-around I recommend is to revert to version 16.64.

If you are affected and haven't already done so, please take a moment to notify Microsoft that you are affected by this problem. The way to do it is to use the Menu Bar and choose Help > Feedback > I Don't Like Something. Microsoft uses the Squeaky Wheel method to prioritize bug fixes. The more reports, the higher up the priority list the bug gets. Please do this from the current update of Excel before reverting to 16.64.

To revert to version 16.64:

Use the Menu Bar and choose Help > Check for Updates to launch AutoUpdate

In AutoUpdate, set updates to Manual to prevent AutoUpdate from automatically updating after you revert to the older build.

In Finder, navigate to the Applications folder

Right-click on Microsoft Excel.app and choose Move to Trash

Restart your Mac

Empty the Mac OS Trash

Use this installer to install build 16.64 of Microsoft Excel: Excel

Some users may be able to find a work-around, which is why I am posting this discussion. Some users will be blocked from this due to licensing or IT department restrictions.

There are third-party solutions available. I don't know which ones are great and which ones are less good. I'm hoping people will try them out and reply here with their results and recommendations.

On the Insert tab of the Ribbon choose Add-ins > Get Add-ins.

In the resulting dialog enter the word Stock in the Search field then click the spyglass icon. There are a lot of add-ins available. Let's chat about them in this thread.

Answer 1

ANYONE from Microsoft listening to all this on the thread!!!??? Hello???

Sorry, but no. Although Microsoft pays to have this forum available for customers to communicate with each other, it is very rare for anyone from the Excel team to reply directly within this forum.

I can tell you that the Excel team is aware of the issue because I told them through the MVP channel. Apparently fixing this is complicated.

Answer 2

Thanks, Jim. Good to hear that they at least know that this is an issue. As I have posted, I brought this to their attention last May, got elevated to Tier 3 support, and never really got it solved despite countless phone calls, logs captured, screen shots, etc. I don't think Engineering ever gave it a good look. Maybe now they are??

I get that it is complicated. That's why we pay them the big bucks (as a group). As a retired embedded software engineer, I get complicated. It still needs to be fixed. They have had 8 months at least.

Answer 3

You probably have more influence than I do. You give them money. Money talks.

Answer 4

Who do we need to speak to if they say this is complicated? I'm also an engineer, I get complicated as well. The fact that it works once, but not thereafter should be a clear clue...

Answer 5

You would think! I bet as an engineer you know that most engineering delays are due to policy makers, not engineers. At least that's been my personal experience.