Excel for Mac is mixing up actions when more than 1 workbook is open

Question

I recently switched from a Windows laptop to a Mac having checked first that the apps I use the most work. However I find that there are many issues in Excel on the Mac

When I have one Workbook open, Excel on my Mac is fine. When I have 2 or more open, I start seeing many issues

The problem:

• I left click on a tab in a workbook (just to view it), and that tab moves to my other open workbook
• I try to insert columns or rows in a workbook, and it inserts it in the other workbook
• I try to right click and click paste, and the other workbook opens
• I try to insert a new sheet, that is randomly inserted in any of the other open workbooks
• I enter data and it appears in another sheet in another workbook.

What I've tried:

• Starting my Mac in safe mode. Exact same issues are happening
• Removed and installed just Excel from the App Store, same issues

I'm not the only one with this problem and this issue seems to be open since 2024 at least:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5314728/excel-for-mac-is-involuntarily-jumping-between-wor
• https://www.reddit.com/r/excel/comments/iiip8t/weird_problem_with_excel_on_mac_automatically/
• https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/why-does-excel-keep-switching-between-open/a23b749f-ce12-4461-b3aa-755ead922c91
• https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/excel-for-mac-involuntarily-jumping-to-another/efba304d-d344-48bb-94c8-402165bb39ea

Answer 1

Hello Dipali Patankar

I understand how disruptive this is, particularly when edits can be applied to the wrong workbook.

Could you confirm your macOS version and the Excel version shown under Excel > About Microsoft Excel?

Since Safe Mode and reinstalling Excel did not help, please try resetting Excel’s preferences:

1. Quit Excel and all other Office applications.
2. In Finder, hold Option, open the Go menu, and select Library.
3. Open the Preferences folder.
4. Move com.microsoft.Excel.plist to the desktop.
5. Reopen Excel and test with two newly created blank workbooks.

Corrupted Excel preferences or a damaged macOS user profile as possible causes of abnormal Excel behavior. Testing Excel in a newly created macOS user account can help determine whether the issue is limited to the current profile.

Also check Help > Check for Updates, because Microsoft recommends keeping both macOS and Office updated.

If the behavior continues with blank workbooks in a new macOS account, please report it through Help > Feedback in Excel

I hope this helps isolate where the unwanted workbook switching is coming from.

Feel free reply back to this post if you need further assistance, I'll be happy to help.