XL98: Cannot Activate Dialog Box When MS Excel Help Is Visible

• Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, if you click anywhere in the program, including a dialog box, while the MS Excel Help window is displayed on the screen, the computer beeps and nothing happens.

CAUSE

This problem may occur when the following conditions are true:

• You display the MS Excel Help window by clicking Contents And Index on the Help menu.

  -and-

• You then switch to Microsoft Excel and click a menu item that displays a dialog box that is part of an add-in. For example, you click a menu command associated with the dialog boxes in the following table.

        Menu command                       Dialog box
        ---------------------------------------------------------
  
        View > Report Manager              Report Manager
        Tools > AutoSave                   AutoSave
        Tools > Solver                     Solver Parameters
        Tools > Data Analysis              Data Analysis
        Tools > Wizard > Lookup            Lookup Wizard
        Tools > Wizard > Conditional Sum   Conditional Sum Wizard
        Tools > Wizard > File Conversion   File Conversion Wizard
  
     -and-
  
  

• While the dialog box is visible on the screen, you switch to the MS Excel Help window, and then click either the dialog box or anywhere else in Microsoft Excel.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, close the MS Excel Help window. After you close the Help window, Microsoft Excel works correctly.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.