Prevent Cell Addresses When EditING In a RefEdit Box?

November 02, 2021 - by Bill Jelen

Problem: There are a few maddening dialog boxes in Excel. Say that you define a name and later need to edit that name. Click somewhere in the RefEdit box. When you press the left or right arrow key to move to another part of the cell, Excel starts inserting cell references.

Here is an example: When you press the right arrow key to move the flashing insertion point after the address, Excel starts inserting cell references.

While typing in the Refers To box in the Edit Name dialog, if you press left or right arrow keys, Excel starts inserting cell references in the formula. In the lower left corner of Excel, the status bar says "Point" — Figure 143. Excel inserts cell references as you arrow through.

This is maddening! The solution is very simple, though. Before you touch the arrow keys in a RefEdit box, press F2. You will see the status indicator in the lower left corner of Excel change from Enter or Point to Edit. Once you are in Edit mode, you can use arrow keys.

Press F2 and the Status Bar changes Point to Edit. — Figure 144. Press F2 to change Point to Edit. Problem solved.

This article is an excerpt from Power Excel With MrExcel

Title photo by Wonderlane on Unsplash