Fix broken scrolling in Excel for Mac *** IN NORMAL VIEW *** (see other idea for Page Layout View)
Vertical mouse scrolling in Excel is laggy and jumpy in Normal View.
I've posted (and may others have posted) about this actress all of Microsoft's forms for months. This issue has existed since the first betas.
Here are some links:
Today's update, 15.15, did not fix this issue. I'm afraid we are still stuck on 2011 from a usability standpoint. This is awful.
I've uploaded a video of 15.15 here: https://twitter.com/rxcs/status/654031164001247232

Update 2016-06-30:
Hi all,
I’m marking this idea as completed, as we’ve determined that scrolling in “Normal view” is working correctly on various monitor types/Mac hardware.
Note 1: We do know that scrolling in Page Layout View (where you see page margins, like Word) is slower. If you are experiencing slow/laggy scrolling there, please go add your vote to this idea and *include a video if you can – that really helps us!*
Note 2: You can tell if you are in Page Layout or Normal View by clicking on the View Ribbon, and then checking the two left-most buttons. The view you are in will be “selected” there.
Cheers,
Dan [MS]
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Update 2016-04-13:
We rolled out more scrolling fixes in 15.21, and we think this fixes most of the remaining issues of scrolling in Normal View. (At least internally for us, it seems to have fixed issues).
We also recognize that individual machines and workbooks may be different, so before declaring victory here, we want to hear your experience. If this fixes the scrolling issues for you, please let us know! If it doesn’t, please share with us a video of the scrolling issue you’re seeing, the type of Mac you have, and if possible a copy of your workbook.
Cheers,
Dan [MS]
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Update 2016-03-02:
Looks like the team found some issues testing the scrolling fixes in 15.20, so we’re going to hold off on the scrolling update until we can get them resolved. But, we’re still working on getting this into a build as soon as possible.
Cheers,
Dan [MS]
Update: 2016-02-25:
Good day,
We’ve got an update for this issue – hopefully one that will make everyone happy.
Our team has been actively working on scrolling improvements for a few months now. So far, we’ve released fixes in the following versions:
• 15.16 – Removed snap-to-grid scrolling
• 15.17 – Fix jittery scrolling when OOUI (on-object UI) is being displayed
• 15.18 – Improved scroll bar reliability
• 15.20 – (coming soon; we think this is the final fix) Fix to reduce the number of times objects are redrawn during scrolling (in different places, competing with each other, thereby causing jitter)
Hopefully with 15.20 we’ve fixed the issues once and for all, but we want to hear what you think once it’s released, at which point we’ll mark this as completed.
Cheers,
Dan [MS]
186 comments
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Patrick commented
I just resolved a scrolling issue by unfreezing panes and then freezing them again. I noticed that the horizontal line that normally distinguished the vertically pinned area was not drawing.
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Anonymous commented
I find that if you don't use the full size window and only open it as far as you need to, then scrolling doesn't 'lag'
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AK commented
Excel 16.16.4 (181110) still broken.
Scrolling in both Normal view and Page Layout view is nightmarishly slow and choppy with 11000 rows and 37 columns on a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017) with 16GB of RAM.
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Anonymous commented
re Bug Identified
To clarify - I am running Mojave
Even No issues below ....... doesn't work when some filters are changed.I also have (sometimes) 2 horizontal scroll bars - the second acts as a vertical scroll bar but only allows scroll of 10 lines at a time. This is Mojave trying to incorporate mobile screen functionality into the desktop.
The vertical scroll bar is useless because it assumes I have a million + lines of data - the minimum vertical scrolling is 30000 lines!
I have now found show scroll bars always in system preferences - it doesn't help.
Richard Beagley
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Anonymous commented
Bug Identified (for me) Hi, I'm running Excel for MAC 16.16.3(181015) on a new IMAC with 64Gb ram. This is a purchase NOT an annual subscription version. My model is 1000+ lines, 50 columns with filters, simple macros. My scroll bars only appear on cursor proximity (no option in preferences).
My scrolling disappears often when I use "freeze panes" (vert + horiz) within the contiguous data cells AND always when I change a line filter (across the top). I am sure that the horizontal freeze pane moves outside the visible window.
No issues IF:
highlight a complete row. "Freeze Panes" above this row but no vertical divide!
click on a cell outside the contiguous data to "freeze panes" vert + horiz together - again no vertical divide within the data columns!!.Use "Split" as a clumsy workaround!!!
This is a disgrace on both Apple & Microsoft.
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Benny commented
Hi, I'm running Excel for Mac 16.14 (180610). Lately I'm having problems that while scrolling with the mouse tray (using Macbook Air) takes the pointer to a cell in a range far from my working area. The screen shows empty cells and I fail to scroll back to my working area. Only solution is to change Normal to Page Layout view and "play" with the Zoom until my working area is visible again. This is absolutely driving me crazy and I can't work.
Any HELP will be much appreciated! -
John Holley commented
I am in the middle of preparing an excel worksheet on my Mac when the curser suddenly moves left to right OR vertically downwards on its own WITHOUT me touching the mouse or keyboard. It keeps moving until I touch the mouse and it stops. I then need to drag the curser back to its original position. --- Why?
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dawnjoan commented
yes it is too awful this jumping around, scrolling and nothing in sight!1 There is a serious problems with excel and scrolling on mac 27 .Information jumps when scrolling, goes blank for a portion of a second. It is really hard to use.
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Anonymous commented
I'm using 16.9 and the columns and rows sometimes jump around!
the whole page will just suddenly scoot to the left and top or bottom of the section I'm working on.
I don't understand why this happens, how to describe the problem properly, or how to fix it -
Continuing to dislike Microsoft commented
So stupid and frustrating that when I scroll it automatically snaps to the grid, jumping around to an undesired position if trying to look at specific cells.
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MKozak commented
EVERYONE! Vote-up this new post with the SAME problems!
https://excel.uservoice.com/forums/304933-excel-for-mac/suggestions/18628159-excel-for-mac-v15-23-scrolling-still-broken -
MKozak commented
And I see, also, the scrollbar disappears even though I have System Prefs set to ALWAYS. I have to go toggled off ALWAYS and toggle it back on to get the scroll bars back. Wow. LibreOffice anyone?
Ugh! -
MKozak commented
NOT COMPLETE!
If I have any frozen columns, scrolling DIES. Having to unfreeze and refreeze is RIDICULOUS, although that has fixed scrolling TEMPORARILY in each case.
How basic is SCROLLING?! Like, IBM PS/2 BASIC - how is it MS can't even get something that old, simple and ubiquitous right? -
sealiph commented
There is a serious problems with The new upgrade of excel 16.9 and scrolling on mac 27 inch running High Sierra, It is much worse than the previous problems. Information jumps when scrolling, goes blank for a portion of a second. It is really hard to use. Anyone else notice it?
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Anonymous commented
I've opened a CSV file in Excel 15.40 for Mac and there are no scroll bars. Using macOS 10.13.1.
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Charly commented
My scroll bar appears immediately after I set "show scroll bars - always" in System Preferences-General, then almost immediately disappear until I reset "show scroll bars - always" in System Preferences again. Very frustrating. I pretty much need to keep System Preferences open on my desktop.
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TheWorldFamousJim.M commented
This request is clearly falling on the deaf ears of MS.
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Thomas commented
Please fix the snap to cell "feature". It's terribly frustrating.
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Jason L commented
SUPER ANNOYING....why cant we TURN THIS FEATURE OFF???!
Should a setting to turn on/off "snap to cell when scrolling" or something >:(
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Anonymous commented
I confirm that this issue has been present from the beginning of Excel 15, and is still present now.