Problems switching into Excel

[budgenma]

I am having a problem switching from my internet browser into Excel - basically I can't do so. When I click Excel in my dock, the menu at the top shows that it Excel is 'live', but my view remains in my Internet Browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox - it's the same for all). To get into the spreadsheet I am working on I need to go to File>New Workbook and then delete the new workbook to view the open file. Very frustrating!

I am working on MacOS X 10.5.8 (Leopard I think!) - and Excel is Excel for Mac 2011. If anyone can help it would be very much appreciated!

 

[cwa107]

It sounds like you're minimizing Excel when you switch to your browser window. And of course, once it's minimized, you have to maximize it by clicking the minimized window in the Dock (right side, near the trash can).

I think if you just change your habit of minimizing the Excel window when you want to switch to another window, that will do the trick. But some other things to think about....

Firstly, you can switch apps easily using Command-Tab (this is like Alt-Tab in Windows). Secondly, if you haven't gotten in the habit of using Exposé, you should do that now. On most newer Macs, the Exposé button is F3 and it will show all open windows, allowing you to select between them quickly. This function can (and probably should) be assigned to a gesture or "hot corner" to make it quickly accessible.

Hope that helps.

 

[budgenma]

Thanks for your response. I haven't minimised the Excel spreadsheet - I have just switched from Excel to the Internet from an open spreadsheet and it won't let me switch back without the process of having to go to Open new Workbook etc etc

The Expose function I didn't know about - and it's great (so thanks for that!) , but doesn't solve my problem either. It shows all open programmes, EXCEPT the Microsoft Office docs which I have open. When I work from Excel or Word and click F3, all these docs appear - but not my internet windows. It's as if the 2 programmes/systems are in complete isolation on the same laptop.

 

[cwa107]

This almost seems like some kind of a bug in Office 2011. For what it's worth, 10.5.8 is kind of dated at this point, and I'd be willing to bet that Office 2011 wasn't fully vetted with 10.5.x.

I would give serious thought to upgrading to 10.6 at a minimum... and you might want to do that soon, since 10.8 is due out in a few weeks and Apple doesn't typically keep a lot of older versions available for retail sale.