Steps to reproduce:

(Tested in Excel 365 / Office version 16.0.11126.20200 )

1. Open Excel to a blank worksheet.
2. On any cell, press the APPLICATIONS KEY to open the context menu.
3. Select "New note".
4. NVDA stops talking. Type something.
5. Press ESCAPE to save the note. NVDA does not report anything.
6. Press ESCAPE again to return to Excel.

Actual behavior:

When activating the "New Note" command in the context menu, the following errors are generated:
IO - speech.speak (08:02:44.078):
Speaking [LangChangeCommand ('en_GB'), u'New Note N']
IO - inputCore.InputManager.executeGesture (08:02:45.660):
Input: kb(desktop):enter
DEBUGWARNING - IAccessibleHandler.accessibleObjectFromEvent (08:02:45.780):
oleacc.AccessibleObjectFromEvent with window 526786, objectID -4 and childID 0: [Error -2147024809] The parameter is incorrect
DEBUGWARNING - NVDAObjects.IAccessible.IAccessible._get_IAccessibleRole (08:02:45.786):
accRole failed: (-2147417848, 'The object invoked has disconnected from its clients.', (None, None, None, 0, None))
DEBUGWARNING - IAccessibleHandler.accessibleObjectFromEvent (08:02:45.821):
oleacc.AccessibleObjectFromEvent with window 1182460, objectID 27 and childID 0: [Error -2147467259] Unspecified error
DEBUGWARNING - IAccessibleHandler.accessibleObjectFromEvent (08:02:45.822):
oleacc.AccessibleObjectFromEvent with window 1182460, objectID 33 and childID 0: [Error -2147467259] Unspecified error
DEBUGWARNING - NVDAObjects.window.excel.ExcelBrowseModeTreeInterceptor.get_isAlive (08:02:45.948):
could not compare sheet names
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "NVDAObjects\window\excel.pyo", line 452, in get_isAlive
File "comtypesMonkeyPatches.pyo", line 35, in new__getattr
File "comtypes\client\lazybind.pyo", line 168, in getattr
File "comtypes\automation.pyo", line 729, in _invoke
COMError: (-2147418111, 'Call was rejected by callee.', (None, None, None, 0, None))
DEBUGWARNING - eventHandler.executeEvent (08:02:45.960):
error executing event: gainFocus on <baseObject.Dynamic_IAccessibleExcel7WindowWindowNVDAObject object at 0x052CDC50> with extra args of {}
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "eventHandler.pyo", line 155, in executeEvent
File "eventHandler.pyo", line 92, in init
File "eventHandler.pyo", line 100, in next
File "NVDAObjects\window\excel.pyo", line 668, in event_gainFocus
File "NVDAObjects\window\excel.pyo", line 628, in _getSelection
File "comtypes\client\dynamic.pyo", line 110, in getattr
File "comtypes\automation.pyo", line 708, in GetIDsOfNames
COMError: (-2147418111, 'Call was rejected by callee.', (None, None, None, 0, None))

After escape is pressed to close the note and return to the spreadsheet, the following is generated:
IO - inputCore.InputManager.executeGesture (08:05:47.048):
Input: kb(desktop):escape
DEBUGWARNING - IAccessibleHandler.accessibleObjectFromEvent (08:05:47.144):
oleacc.AccessibleObjectFromEvent with window 1182460, objectID 2409 and childID 0: [Error -2147467259] Unspecified error
IO - inputCore.InputManager.executeGesture (08:06:02.434):
Input: kb(desktop):rightArrow
DEBUGWARNING - IAccessibleHandler.accessibleObjectFromEvent (08:06:02.456):
oleacc.AccessibleObjectFromEvent with window 1182460, objectID 2461 and childID 0: [Error -2147467259] Unspecified error
DEBUGWARNING - IAccessibleHandler.accessibleObjectFromEvent (08:06:02.457):
oleacc.AccessibleObjectFromEvent with window 1182460, objectID 2462 and childID 0: [Error -2147467259] Unspecified error
DEBUGWARNING - IAccessibleHandler.accessibleObjectFromEvent (08:06:02.464):
oleacc.AccessibleObjectFromEvent with window 1182460, objectID 2464 and childID 0: [Error -2147467259] Unspecified error

NVDA stops speaking and sometimes recovers and sometimes you need to alt+tab away and back. In this case, I pressed tab to move to a new cell and typed something and NVDA did come back, but then gave an error in the log (didn't cause any noticeable problem at this point):

IO - inputCore.InputManager.executeGesture (08:06:04.773):
Input: kb(desktop):2
DEBUGWARNING - eventHandler.executeEvent (08:06:04.792):
error executing event: typedCharacter on <NVDAObjects.window.excel.ExcelCell object at 0x052899F0> with extra args of {'ch': u'2'}
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "eventHandler.pyo", line 155, in executeEvent
File "eventHandler.pyo", line 92, in init
File "eventHandler.pyo", line 100, in next
File "NVDAObjects\window\excel.pyo", line 1222, in event_typedCharacter
File "baseObject.pyo", line 34, in get
File "baseObject.pyo", line 115, in getPropertyViaCache
File "NVDAObjects\window\excel.pyo", line 1195, in get_states
File "comtypesMonkeyPatches.pyo", line 35, in new__getattr
File "comtypes\client\lazybind.pyo", line 168, in getattr
File "comtypes\automation.pyo", line 729, in _invoke
COMError: (-2147418111, 'Call was rejected by callee.', (None, None, None, 0, None))
DEBUGWARNING - NVDAObjects.window.excel.ExcelBrowseModeTreeInterceptor.get_isAlive (08:06:04.828):
could not compare sheet names
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "NVDAObjects\window\excel.pyo", line 452, in get_isAlive
File "comtypesMonkeyPatches.pyo", line 35, in new__getattr
File "comtypes\client\lazybind.pyo", line 168, in getattr
File "comtypes\automation.pyo", line 729, in _invoke
COMError: (-2147418111, 'Call was rejected by callee.', (None, None, None, 0, None))
IO - speech.speak (08:06:04.834):
Speaking [LangChangeCommand ('en_GB'), u'Formula Bar edit']
IO - speech.speak (08:06:04.838):
Speaking [LangChangeCommand ('en_GB'), u'baseline', u'2']

Expected behavior:

This is Excel's native method for entering notes (previously called comments). SHIFT+F2 is the recommended method for entering these, however with the change by Microsoft to add both notes and comments, it is not clear which is which (As per #9193) so I expect we will see more users encountering this again. (I'm sure there are older, closed issues for this).

Ideally override this function when called from the context menu to work as per SHIFT+F2 if working with Excel's native notes is not possible.

System configuration

NVDA installed/portable/running from source:

Installed

NVDA version:

2018.4.1

Windows version:

10, build 18272.1000

Name and version of other software in use when reproducing the issue:

Office 365 Version:
16.0.11126.20200

Other information about your system:

Other questions

Does the issue still occur after restarting your PC?

Yes

Have you tried any other versions of NVDA?

No