I cannot believe in 2017, this has not been addressed...

Hoffman

Board Regular
Joined
Oct 19, 2007
Messages
220
Office Version
  1. 365
Platform
  1. MacOS
Hi all.

Long time since i have been here but always remember the help as awesome.

I am using Excel for Mac (2017 version I think) and even with the older version, when I click in the little search box up top to find a student's name in a long list of names, it is so difficult to see where it is when it finds it (the cell).

All I see that excel does is put a thin box around the cell it found that is nearly iMPOSSIBLE to see. Is this true that they never figured a way to easily see where the "found" text is when searching.

Any help or easy suggestions would be appreciated. So frustrating.

Thanks,

Barry
 

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Have you tried to zoom your window so everything is bigger and easier to see?
 
Upvote 0
Have you tried to zoom your window so everything is bigger and easier to see?

I had not tried that until you mentioned and it did not do anything. It is crazy.

I have some cells colored red so that may contribute but the thin BLACK border Excel puts around the found cell is sometimes nearly impossible to see and I would think they could have created a way for the user to find the found cell better than just a very thin black border around your cell?

this is crazy.

the more colors, etc in the doc the harder it even is to find it.

Barry
 
Upvote 0
If you're talking about the activecell, top left corner, next to the formula bar you can usually see the cell address of the activecell and use this to isolate it's location on the sheet.

Pressing LEFT UP, RIGHT or DOWN arrow keys usually causes animation which alerts you visually as to a general area on the sheet where the activecell is.

Given how long Excel's been in existence for, I've never had this issue and not seen it regularly (if ever) commented on this or other boards; I suspect the issue is likely local to your specific spreadsheet and may need an improved visual appearance e.g. with a change in formatting.
 
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Upvote 0
Thanks for the response.

Yes I now will have to look at cell name/# in corner.

And yes my formatting may be part of the issue. I have searched online and others have reported similar things but not that often as you mention.

Just seems very weak to me to have a spreadsheet that allows such great formatting with colors etc but then when you search it is laid back with no options other than a very thin box around a cell (of which there could be hundreds on front of you). They coudl think of nothing that stands out better?

Searching big spreadsheets with lots of fomatting is prob something many users do.

Thanks for getting me thinking!

Barry
 
Upvote 0
If you take a step back and consider Excel is built with lots of features and flexibility, how can it "control" what level of formatting complexity a User imposes onto the sheet?

When you have an unformatted, new sheet, are you saying you cannot easily spot the activecell? What changes then happen to the sheet to make identifying that cell difficult and what or who caused those changes?

If you fill every cell black then this will make identifying the activecell difficult - as an extreme example.

There are resources online that suggest limits to number of colours and styles used for general presentation which is relevant for multiple programmes where output and reporting is of concern.

It's easier to have too many options and let the User control what they use on a sheet, than to limit this and then receive feedback Excel can't do X or doesn't allow for Y.

I wouldn't argue it's weak, I'd argue it's a strength because of it allows so much customisation and uniqueness, what you're advocating is akin to "They can have any colour car they want, so long as it's black", a one size fits all doesn't work!
 
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No trouble, it's not about the points but just considering your frustration from the opposite perspective, if it helps you find an alternative solution!
 
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