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Escape key stopped working in Excel

normally, I can hit the 'esc' key when I'm editing a cell and it cancels what's been typed in. now, it is not working for some reason.

for example, if I'm trying to get the text "+" input into a cell but I forget to type ' first, Excel thinks I'm making a formula and activates the dashed outline to help me select a cell reference.  Since this is not what I want, I hit escape, except now Excel does not respond to this key, remaining locked instead in formula search mode. 

The only option I have changed is 'disallow editing directly in cells' but I changed this option back and the behavior was the same.

Answer
Answer
I had this problem, and searched an exorbitant number of forums before finding one that mentioned this problem when running PTE and Photoshop CS4 (I'm running 64-bit on a brand new Windows 7 computer).  I don't know what PTE is and I don't use it, but as soon as I closed Photoshop, the problem completely went away.  

My escape key is now working again, and I have lost the urge to throw my computer out the window.  Hope this helps.

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Question Info

Last updated April 1, 2024 Views 43,906 Applies to: