Cell tab order

[MATT.B]

I have a spreadsheet i have been using for years recently i added a row in between 2 other rows after making this change i have noticed my tab order(the order the cells cycle when hitting tab) has changed. It no longer goes left to right like it used to it nows jumps all over the spreadsheet. Ie. Ill start at a1 tab to b1 then a4,b4c4 then back to c1 is there a way to change this order some to make it go back to the left to right behavior.

edit: i would like to add i am using cell protection on unused cells and sheet + document protection only see this issue with protection is turned on but not when it is off

[Lupp]

...start at a1 tab to b1 then a4,b4c4 then back to c1...

I don't think this is correct. A1 may be protected (locked). But if you get to B1 the first time starting a new cycle, you will be lead to B1 again the next time, and not to C1.

As far as I know the Tab(Right) order is fix:
(Coming from A1 e.g.)

Leftmost unlocked cell of the topmost row containing unlocked cells.
Then down as far as necessary to find unlocked cells and to the leftmost unlocked cell there.
If "down" doesn't find anymore unlocked cells start at the beginning again.

This should be the same order as applied if you tab through the cells of a multiselection.

[MATT.B]

The actuall order is not what i stated and after looking more closely to my sheet i noticed that i have merged cells and non merged cells next to eachother and i see that because one cell is actually d4 when it looks like d5 its tabbing to it first instead of row 6 but when protection is off it will go a6 b6 c6 d5(merged cell) e5(also merged cell)but with protection on it will go a6 b6 c6 a13... And skip the 2 merged cells. Even though protection is off for them i actuall have to start withthe next row above and its rather annoying as the pattern is out of wack because of the merged cells .

[Lupp]

I still don't understand exactly your situation, but I'm surely not surprised that merging cells causes trouble. I would recommend to restrict merging to rare cases of "common headings" for cell ranges, better for groups of complete columns. You won't get rid of the disadvantages and keep the advantages of merging (if any) at the same time.

[MATT.B]

I've included an example of what I have so starting on sheet one if you go to name select the empty cell and then tab over you'll see the Oddity of how the tapping works on my sheet I think the problem lies is the way I have the headers for each of the cells and what belongs there setup now if I was able to make it so that the the headers Were Somehow included in the cell like in the background so that I could still typing that sell I think it would solve the issue I'm having programs like Microsoft

[keme]

Can't see any file...

Having a header in the background is not straightforward, but if you are working with tabular data the freeze function may do what you need. Select the top left data cell (the first below the headers), then menu item Window - Freeze.

[MATT.B]

example.ots

(58.13 KiB) Downloaded 89 times

some reason the file didn't link correctly. as for the header I'm talking about the labels for the data like name: phone: vin: ect..

[jeffs12]

Is this how you want it to work?