microsoft excel
It's really annoying that Excel (2003 and 2007) doesn't show what cell, row
or column that is selected when the window is not in focus. I typically want to
refer to the current cell or row while working in another application.
Is there any workaround or fix that will make the cell/row highlighted when not in focus?
I know that you can copy a cell (Ctrl+C) but it's kind of tiresome to do that every time.
See the Forms section in Excel Help for the topic "Add a list box or combo box to a worksheet".
From that page (referring to a Form control list box):
Note: If you set the selection type to Multi or Extend, the cell that is specified in the Cell link box returns a value of 0 and is ignored. The Multi and Extend selection types require the use of Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code. In these cases, consider using the ActiveX list box control.
And referring to an ActiveX control list box:
To create a list box with multiple selection or extended-selection enabled, use the MultiSelect property. In this case, the LinkedCell property returns a #N/A value. You must use VBA code to process the multiple selections.
It's still there:
If you're not seeing the formula bar at all, you can enable it here:
Best Answer
I think there is a work around but, it really depends on your situation!
You can create a macro which fires when the selection changes and it simply changes the background of each cell. When you 'leave' the cell it will reset the row's background value to white and then select the new row.
I added this to my Sheet1 in the Visual Basic window.
This screen shot was taken while the application had lost focus.
This may be annoying but you could easily add a button which could toggle this feature on or off!
The negatives are (from top of my head : It will remove any current highlighting you have. So if you have highlighting on your page (cells coloured) then best not use this! Also, it will probably print with the highlighted rows!