Solved Change cursor color in Excel 2021, W11 Pro

This is driving me nuts. The curson in Excel 2021 is almost invisible to me which makes working in Excel very frustrating as I hunt for the cursor all over the screen. I searched on the web but none of the solutions worki for me.

Most tell you to open Excel Options/advanced/Display but I can find no option to shange the cursor or its color.

I won't ask why Microsoft chose to hide this option but can someone help me?

I suggest changing the mouse pointer in the Windows Settings: Accessibility > Mouse pointer and touch.



I changed the cursor color to Yellow with a size of 3. It is much easier to see that way.

Thank you. That changes the cursor on the W11 desktop, but unfortunately it has no effect on the cursor in Excel.

1) are you saying that you want to change your mouse cursor to different than normal ONLY when an Excel file is the active window?

2) changing your mouse cursor in the settings app to (example) black is not reflecting a black cursor when working in an Excel file?

Thank you for writing.

I am probably using the wrong words.

I successfully changed the W11 cursor to a yellow one I can see better. That part is fine.

When I open an Excel.file the yellow cursor is present in the excel ribbon area but not in the spreadsheet data area below the ribbon where the cursor remains a white cross. This white cross cursor is sometimes not very visible in the white spreadsheet area. I would ideally like to change this white cross cursor into a colored one to improve visibility. Is that even possible?

Thank you again.

got it. ok:

1) customize the ribbon (right click on it)
2) check Developer in right pane to show Developer tab - close customize window
3) Developer > Visual Basic > Left Pane 'VBAProject (Book1) > Microsoft Excel Objects > ThisWorkBook (double click it to open)
4) Type the following:



5) Close VB
6) in Excel document > File > Save As > CrossToCursor.xla (from dropdown - Excel 97-2003 Addi-in *.xla)
Save it in location
7) Close Excel
8) Open a new Excel
9) right click ribbon > Customize > Click on 'Home' in Right Pane > "New Group" > Rename "CrossToCursor" > click new group to highlight it
10) in Left Pane > click dropdown > Macros > CrossToCursor > Add (should add it under new group in right pane > Rename Sub command just added > name it CrossToCursor (and choose icon... i chose the Cursor icon...)

now whenever you open a new excel, you can click that button on the ribbon and it will make the white cross your default cursor arrow instead

Wow! Thank you so much.
I'll try it.
Greatly appreciated.

no problem. works perfectly (i tried on 2019 and 2021 office installs). any issues with getting it figured out, just let me know.

Thank you so much.
You are not only a genius but a great teacher. Thank you for taking all the time to do this!

Unfortunately, I am both an Excel novice and not as good a student as you are a teacher. Everything went smoothly until I came to step #10
"10) in Left Pane > click dropdown > Macros > CrossToCursor > Add (should add it under new group in right pane > Rename Sub command just added > name it CrossToCursor (and choose icon... i chose the Cursor icon...)"



Maybe I saved the macro to the wrong folder? I searched for it and found it at
"C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\AddIns\CrossToCursor.xla"
I checked if macros are disabled in my Excel and they are allowed.

TryingHard said:

Thank you so much.
You are not only a genius but a great teacher. Thank you for taking all the time to do this!

Unfortunately, I am both an Excel novice and not as good a student as you are a teacher. Everything went smoothly until I came to step #10
"10) in Left Pane > click dropdown > Macros > CrossToCursor > Add (should add it under new group in right pane > Rename Sub command just added > name it CrossToCursor (and choose icon... i chose the Cursor icon...)"

Maybe I saved the macro to the wrong folder? I searched for it and found it at
"C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\AddIns\CrossToCursor.xla"
I checked if macros are disabled in my Excel and they are allowed.

Click to expand...

No, that is the correct folder.

1) just so you know, according to your image.. you created a whole new Tab for it instead of just adding a new Group to the Home tab (not sure if that is how you wanted it or if that was a mistake)

2) that is odd that it is not showing under the Macros dropdown. does it show (in alphabetical order) in the All Commands dropdown?

No It does not appear under all commands.

I will reboot and see if that makes a difference.
There is no urgency. Don't mess up your holiday.

Reboot did not help.
I have to go somewhere now (wife insists), so there is not hurry.

no rush. at your convenience, can you post a screenshot of the what step 4 looks in a new excel doc, like now that you've created it? it should reflect:

I'll do that when I get home.
A thought that occurred to me:
As instructed, I saved the macro as
Excel 97-2003 Addi-in *.xla

I am in W11 pro and my Excel is 2021. Could that be the problem?

no, that is the correct format. mine is saved as that as well and works as intended

Here are some screen screenshots:

Current Ribbon


What you requested:

This is my current ribbon:


When I click on Add-ins, I get
"The add-in store has been disabled. ........"
It instructed me to change the setting in account privacy to allow additional ..... and reboot.
I just did so and am sending this in case the reboot makes me lose it.
I will now do so but am sening this message first in case I lose this reply in the reboot.

No luck. still no macro visible even though it is present when I search for it.


I need to go. I will revisit tomorrow.
Thanks again for all you are doing.

TryingHard said:

What you requested:
View attachment 120332

Click to expand...

ok so it doesn't appear to have saved. open a blank excel file (with only the 1 instance open). When you go to Developer > Visual Basic > HERE it should say VBA Project (Book1) where yours says (Backups).

Once it is labeled as (Book1), double click to open "ThisWorkbook" and copy/paste the following into the window that opens


Press the X to close that window. Press the X to close the "Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications" window. Back in the main Excel window > File > Save As > and overwrite CrossToCursor.xla (make sure you dont just type that, but choose it from the dropdown as the extension type (looks like you did that correctly, just wanted to state it again).

back in the main Excel Window > Home tab > Right Click on the end of the Ribbon (the open space) > Customize Ribbon > Expand "Home" > Highlight the word "Home" and click "New Group" at the bottom > Highlight "New Group" that was just created and click "Rename..." at the bottom > rename New Group to "CrossToCursor" > highlight "CrossToCursor" group that you just name > In the left pane, under "Choose commands from:" choose "Macros" from the dropdown > Highlight "ThisWorkbook.CrossToCursor" and Click "Add >>" in the middle > Highlight "ThisWorkbook.CrossToCursor" in the right pane (under CrossToCursor Group) and click "Rename..." at the bottom > name it "CrossToCursor" and choose the mouse Cursor icon (or whatever icon you desire) > Click "OK"

now when you click that button, it will change the white cross to your normal mouse cursor. close Excel and reopen or open any document you have saved and click the button again to do the same.

let me know how it goes.

Worked like a charm.
Thank you so much and for being so patient in helping a total stranger.
I'm not sure what I did wrong the first time but now all is good.