Anyone else encountering this Excel bug

Question

Anyone else encountering this Excel bug

KCA 40

Anyone else seen this bug, US English version of Excel for Mac, 16.000.01:

--> Format Cell interface --> set custom format to "0000"

Format Cell Interface now opens directly to the "special" number format submenu AND the language is set to Bashkir. Setting language back to any English variant other than "American" changes the number format to "00000". Set to American English, and the number format gets set to "Social Security Number". Screenshot 2025-09-04 at 2.28.26 PM

2 answers

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Answer 1

Jeronimo Fuerte 26,440 Independent Advisor

Hi! Seems that when you enter a custom format like 0000, the Format Cells window wrongly jumps to Special and even flips the language.. It may also swap your mask to “Social Security Number” or 00000. Your data isn’t harmed, this is just the formatting dialog getting confused.

Try to type a locale-locked custom format such as [$-en-US]0000 so Excel won’t switch categories, or use a formula like =TEXT(A1,"0000"). If you still see odd behavior, update Excel and, if needed, reset Excel preferences. Please also send Help > Feedback with your build number.

KCA 40 Reputation points

2025-09-05T19:26:02.8266667+00:00
Hi Jeronimo, and agreed, it's just a formatting error and not messing with my underlying data. Mostly I was just sharing here because there's no where else to share it.

That said, it presents at least two concerns, and one correction:

I (and many others) use Excel to present analyses, and random reformatting can be catastrophic in regard to professional outcomes even if the underlying data are not modified

The presence of small bugs that link otherwise unconnected elements or affect functionality in a direction that should be impossible suggests other, more fundamental programming errors that may indeed corrupt data and files.

(Correction) On Excel for Mac version 16, there is no "Feedback" menu item or setting bit, and the ::Help>>Contact Support menu item links to dori-uw-1.kuma-moon.com (this forum). While it is possible to get an email address for support, I'd like to know I'm not just sending a bug report to /dev/null/

Answer 2

Jeronimo Fuerte 26,440 Independent Advisor

I see, you are correct, newer releases don't have this, please try the Feedback portal:
https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/

KCA 40 Reputation points

2025-09-08T16:21:13.3833333+00:00

Thanks, and - this is what I see when I go to the Feedback portal using that link:

Generally, the message I'm getting from MS is that they really don't care to hear from users and would prefer we use someone else's tool
Jeronimo Fuerte 26,440 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-09-08T21:27:31.5133333+00:00

Does this happen before or after you try to log in? Could you share a screenshot that also shows the web address you are on? I tested with multiple accounts and didn’t get this message. From what I see, the message indicates that you have been blocked. It’s possible you are not using a Microsoft account to sign in. Please share more information about this, or confirm if you previously submitted feedback that might have contained a violation of Microsoft’s Terms of Service.
KCA 40 Reputation points

2025-09-15T16:18:06.02+00:00

It happens immediately on logging in. I've never used the site before, so I can't see how I'm blocked for any reason I have control over. I can't even access my profile after logging in, it's just a black hole.

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Anyone else encountering this Excel bug

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