lines in Excel 97 spreadsheet

I'm using Excel 97 and I have some old spreadsheets my father created to keep up with money he loaned people (he died 3 years ago or I'd just ask him!). I'm trying to collect this money for my mother and though I am able to use the spreadsheets the way they are, there's something on there that is driving me CRAZY because I cannot figure out what he did or how to get rid of it. There's a line that goes across the screen under row 2 and down the screen between column A and B. It goes all the way to end of the possible rows and columns, not just to the end of the spread sheet information. It is NOT a regular gridline or border. If I delete the entire row 1 it moves to just below row 1, but deleting more rows or columns does not eliminate the line. It is really just a picky thing, but I HATE it when I can't figure something out.

Oh, just discovered a couple of additional clues that may mean something to an Excel guru!! The information entered into cells A1 and A2 stays on the screen even if I'm waaaaay out past all information filled cells either row or column wise (in other words, if I'm in cell 65536 IV, I can still see A1 and A2 and the information in them on my screen) AND the black line I'm seeing actually extends past the last cells available into the gray part of the screen. When I've paged down as far as it can possible go and row 65536 is in the middle of my screen the black line continues on to the bottom of the screen.

This is probably way more information than you want or need, but I've been accused of being slightly OCD and today I found out that the color new Impala I want is not yet available , so I'd like to at least satisfy this need to know what in world is going on with these Excel spreadsheets!!

Thanks for any help you can offer to this slightly crazy lady.
Patti:confused

 

I finally found it. I knew it had to do with locking or freezing panes, but couldn't find where to fix it. YAAAAAY, I did it!! For anyone else who wants to know....in Excel 97 it's under the "window" menu, then freeze or unfreeze panes.

Thanks anyway, guess I just needed to know you were there if I needed you!!
Patti

 

What your father did there can be a very useful tool and I suspect that's why he enabled it. I've used the feature with numerous spreadsheet. It keeps column heading and/or row titles in view even when those rows/columns would normally be scrolled out of view. You can see how this feature is useful, can't you?

 

USAF Veteran,

I can see the usefullness of this feature now that I understand what it's doing. It was just one of those things that at first I didn't know what it was and it seemed annoying and then I couldn't figure out how he did it and why. It drives me crazy when I can't figure out how to do something! This whole mess has been very stressful and I wish I could see the end, but it's not in sight and I doubt it ever will be. Thanks for helping me see that this CAN be useful. My dad was very intelligent and love messing around with computers and numbers. Sometimes trying to sort through all his work is overwhelming.

Thanks again for your reply,
Patti