Excel bug? - How to stop Excel from distorting and moving shapes after file is opened - A decade long problem

Question

Hi everyone.

I've had to re-post this question, because the Microsoft Agent who corresponded with me back in January never got back to me since then. So, my question was never resolved.

The original post is here: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/how-to-stop-excel-from-distorting-and-moving/cb6eafe0-c0e0-407d-8092-1b3ed54a64ff

At work we use Excel 365 and send workbooks mostly through e-mail or edit them in folders on our network. This has created problems for Excel files set up as templates. These files are saved in the older *.xls format. We don't use the Excel template (*.xltx) format.

There appears to be a decade-long bug in Excel that randomly distorts and shifts all shapes in these workbooks on some workstations. This also occurs while staff are connected remotely using the Windows Remote Desktop icon (i.e., an RDP connection). It's proving difficult to diagnose the problem. Most of the computers have been replaced and Microsoft 365 desktop apps are kept current on all machines. We use only Windows 10 (current version). We can't seem to make it go away.

Our Excel workbook files contain shapes that are assigned to VBA macros.

The properties of the shapes are set to not move or size with cells.

Staff will open and work with these Excel workbooks that have the shapes. They save the workbook, and later someone else opens the same workbook and all those shapes become distorted and get shifted. Sometimes the shifting is so bad, it's like a bomb went off, and we have to transfer data to a new workbook file.

The macro code still works with the distorted shapes after I open the Excel file again - most of the time, but not always! In extreme cases, either none of the macros work with any distorted shapes, or in the worst case scenario, the shapes vanish completely from the file, even on protected worksheets. The macros themselves do not distort or move the shapes. Note: this problem has NOTHING to do with printing. We don't think it has anything to do with the macros either.

Below is a screenshot overview showing an example of the problem.

Questions:

• What's causing this problem?
• How do we fix this problem?
• Is this an Excel bug?
• Has anyone else experienced this problem?

This problem has been around a long time (since around 2010), and happens to other users. As an example, I found one posting on the Excel Forum where a user was experiencing a very similar problem. Link: https://www.excelforum.com/excel-programming-vba-macros/1153399-shapes-move-in-excel-upon-saving-and-reopening.html

Screenshot:

Current version of Excel we are using (as of April 2023):

https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/5efeb0b5-8b8b-4899-a32d-638a044260f4?platform=QnA"https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/7a94f66a-2d0d-462c-98c1-4070b81077ed?platform=QnA" rel="ugc nofollow">

Any help to resolve this issue would be welcome.

Answer 1

Hi everyone.

We think there might be a solution to this issue, although we need to do further testing.

There is an obscure setting in Windows 10 feature called Fix scaling for apps, which is found under "Advanced scaling settings" under Settings. During testing, even on a brand new workstation, the shifting and distortion of shapes and charts in Excel 365 workbooks stopped after turning off this feature.

We also suggest turning off the Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling option in "Graphics Settings" under Settings, since there were posts over the years from users who indicated this feature was also causing problems in Windows. However, the workstation we tested (which was brand new) did not have this setting, but they still had the "Fix scaling for apps" setting, which we turned off.

Please test this solution and post your observations.

Solution:

• Method 1 - Turn off both Fix scaling for apps and Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling, if you have both settings in Windows 10. First, go to Settings > System > Display > Advanced scaling settings, and turn off "Let windows try to fix apps so they're not blurry". Next, go to Settings > System > Display > Graphics Settings, and turn off "Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling".
• Method 2 - Turn off Fix scaling for apps, if you do not have the Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling option. Go to Settings > System > Display > Advanced scaling settings, and turn off "Let windows try to fix apps so they're not blurry".

How to navigate to the settings:

Answer 2

You may try this one.

File>Option>Optimize for compatibility.

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Disable Hardware Acceleration is being deprecated in Excel.

Meanwhile, although the Disable Hardware Acceleration option has been removed in the newest version of Office, you can still disable it in the Registry key.

Please close all your office apps.

Press Win+R to open the Registry Editor, Go to the following path:

*HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common*

Now, search for a folder names as Graphics, if you don't see it, please right click on the Common folder > New > name it as Graphics.

And in Graphics folder, Create Dword 32 bit record. Name it as  DisableHardwareAcceleration and set value to 1.

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You can also send bug to Microsoft, Send feedback to Microsoft with the Feedback Hub app - Microsoft Support

Answer 3

Hi Snow Lu.

Thank you for your response and help. We are using multiple displays in our office. I will look into this and check with staff who send me their affected files and see whether this resolves our issue.

Sincerely,

"Rupertsland"

Answer 4

Currently running Windows 11 Pro Build 22621.ni_release.220506-1250

The fix of changing "Optimize for Best Appearance" to "Optimize for Compatibility," combined with adding the registry key to disable hardware acceleration, does seem to have fixed the issue for me after a reboot.

I was getting absolutely absurd behavior in a very simple workbook with no macros -- selecting a plot then tapping left- or right-arrow would cause wild, random distortions instead of simply scooting the selection to the left or right. Clicking and dragging the endpoint of a line would have the endpoint jump away a full inch when I released it. Clicking in the ribbon to increase the "width" or "height" of a shape would have it just completely ignore the action, and the dimension would just jump back to what it was before. All of this seems to have blessedly stopped for now, so thanks.

Answer 5

Hi Stephen.

I entirely forgot that I had a second post concerning this topic, which I posted much earlier, but Microsoft did not reply back, and I started the topic all over again.

Our solution was initially posted here (you will need to expand the topic, as it is hidden because of AnastasiosGS's solution):

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/how-to-stop-excel-from-distorting-and-moving/cb6eafe0-c0e0-407d-8092-1b3ed54a64ff

I have reposted our solution below for convenience.

We are using Windows 10. If your settings in Windows 11 are different, please let us know.