Freeze Top Row function created a "ghost" vertical scroll bar

[gaker10]

This is kind of weird because I opened this workbook on my computer (Microsoft 2010), and it worked fine. This issue only happens only on my friend's computer, and he has Microsoft 2013. It's not a HUGE deal, but I've applied some solutions to this, and it still is not fixed.

So, my friend has a workbook where he keeps a log of some things, can't say what, but he likes to freeze the top row for searching and printing purposes. I know you can set the top row to be printed on every page without freezing the top row (which he prints multiple pages), but he prefers to just freeze the top row and print when he's in a rush. He informed me that he did freeze the top row and perform a filter on the worksheet, which I know can cause scroll bar issues, but the worksheet right now has no filters, and is still having scroll bar issues.

The initial issue was that he had the top row frozen, and he had a random, non-functional vertical scroll bar in the middle of his sheet, blocking some data from being read. When he scrolled horizontally, the ghost scroll bar stayed in place, so he could read what was initially hidden by the fake scroll bar. It was really just an annoyance, but it really got on his nerves. Keep in mind that when I opened the same workbook on my computer, I didn't see the fake scroll bar.

I managed to fix it (somehow) by unfreezing all panes, saving the workbook, closing it, re-opening it, and it was gone. However, when I re-froze the top row, saved the workbook, closed it, and re-opened it, the fake scroll bar was, indeed, gone, but NOW it is occupying the same space as the REAL vertical scroll bar. When I turn the scroll bar settings off, the fake scroll bar is still there. I tried deleting it as a user-created object (creating your own scroll bars in Excel), needless to say it wasn't user-created, so that didn't help. When I unfreeze the top row, the fake scroll bar is gone and everything is fine. When I re-freeze the top row, everything is still ok (no fake scroll bar). However, when I save the workbook with the freeze still in effect, close it, and re-open it, the fake scroll bar makes it's unwelcome appearance on top of the actual vertical scroll bar.

My friend shouldn't have to unfreeze and re-freeze every time he opens this workbook. I'm starting to think his version of Excel is doing something funky behind the scenes. Keep in mind that I always checked for filters/sorting and such when I tested these solutions. I know this problem is somehow linked to the freeze panes function, I'm just out of ideas on how to fix it permanently.

I'm afraid I can't post the workbook because it has sensitive info (and a lot of it). I know you can use the Page Down key instead of the scroll bar, but I personally prefer the scroll bar, and I just really want to know why this is happening only on my friends computer. Any ideas?

[Peaviner01]

I apologize for bringing up this old thread...

I'm experiencing this issue as well. I've got 2013 and my workbook is shared, macro enabled, filtered, and has the top and left couple rows/columns frozen. I get ghosting of both the horizontal and vertical scroll bars. One workaround I've identified is to open and save the window larger than I intend to work with, then close and reopen it. Once it's reopened, I resize it down until the ghosts "fall off the edge" so to speak. This is an inconvenience, but it's working for now. Though, I'd really like to know why this is happening. Has anyone else experienced this?

[mkamoski]

All -- As of now, it seems to me this is still a bug in Excel 2013 and/or Windows 7. This behaviour is not normal, simply not right. The problem persists for me. Yes, it is a shared Excel file. No, there are no macros in it. Yes, macros are disabled. Yes, deleting all files in... C:\Users\YourUserNameGoesHere\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\ ...does make it go away but this is only temporary. Using Windows 7 fully patched. Yes, my video card is modern and fully patched. If you have a fix not mentioned, please advise. Note that things like "rebooting" and "closing Excel and opening Excel" and "unsharing and sharing the file" are not really fixes, and I have tried them, and none is a permanent fix. I guess the root of the bug may be in outdated OS (Windows 7) and in an outdated version of Excel (Excel 2013), but sadly I cannot change either of those. If you have new good information, I would love to hear it. Thanks. -- Mark Kamoski