Excel worksheets float in window using MacBook Pro

Have you updated Office? What is the specific Version Number of macOS?

Please clarify: Does what you consider to be the problem occur only when using 2 fingers or does it also happen when using only 1 finger? What you have described is normal behavior when using 2-finger scrolling on a Trackpad. This is the default controlled by the OS. The program has no setting to override it.

To constrain scrolling to either Vertical or Horizontal use the respective scroll bar. You may have to enable them in > System Preferences> Appearance – Show Scroll Bars.

You also can use the keyboard shortcuts 🌐+↓/↑ to page dn/up.

Better yet – if you know the cell reference type it into the Name Box & press return or use the Go To command available from Edit>Find in the main menu, in the Editing> Find & Select tool on the Home tab as well as the Control+G kybd shortcut.

Update the Office software. Version 16.112.3 is the current build.

Also confirm that your installation of macOS is fully updated – mouse & trackpad function is owned by the OS.

Hi @Lorri Roberts

This sounds like either the trackpad is continuously scrolling the sheet, or Excel has developed a display problem. Full-screen mode would not normally stop either behavior.

Please try these checks:

1. Open a new blank workbook and see whether it moves in the same way. This will tell us whether the issue affects Excel generally or only one workbook.
2. Temporarily turn off System Settings > Trackpad > Scroll & Zoom > Natural scrolling, then test Excel again.
3. If Draw with Trackpad is enabled on Excel’s Draw tab, turn it off. That mode allows the trackpad to control an on-screen drawing area.
4. Quit Excel completely, restart the Mac, and then open Excel without reopening the previous workbook.
5. In Excel, select Help > Check for Updates and install any available update. The reported build is dated August 10, 2026, and subsequent Office for Mac updates have been released.

Excel does support smooth, pixel-by-pixel scrolling with a trackpad, but the worksheet should respond to a scrolling gesture, not simply follow ordinary pointer movement.

If it still happens, could you clarify whether the cells within the Excel window are scrolling, or whether the entire Excel window itself follows the pointer? A short screen recording would also help identify the behavior.