The following was reported as http://bugs.debian.org/552302

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Package: gnumeric
Version: 1.9.14-2
Severity: normal

This used to work a long time ago, don't know about when it stopped.  It
works without entering data, enter/tab moves the cursor correctly.
However if I do enter data, the selection is lost after enter/tab,
making this feature impossible to use.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.30-2-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=de_DE.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages gnumeric depends on:
ii  debconf [debc 1.5.28                     Debian configuration management sy
ii  gconf2        2.28.0-1                   GNOME configuration database syste
ii  gnumeric-comm 1.9.14-2                   spreadsheet application for GNOME 
ii  gsfonts       1:8.11+urwcyr1.0.7~pre44-4 Fonts for the Ghostscript interpre
ii  libatk1.0-0   1.28.0-1                   The ATK accessibility toolkit
ii  libc6         2.10.1-2                   GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libcairo2     1.8.8-2                    The Cairo 2D vector graphics libra
ii  libglade2-0   1:2.6.4-1                  library to load .glade files at ru
ii  libglib2.0-0  2.22.2-2                   The GLib library of C routines
ii  libgoffice-0- 0.7.14-2                   Document centric objects library -
ii  libgsf-1-114  1.14.16-1                  Structured File Library - runtime 
ii  libgtk2.0-0   2.18.3-1                   The GTK+ graphical user interface 
ii  libpango1.0-0 1.26.0-1                   Layout and rendering of internatio
ii  libxml2       2.7.6.dfsg-1               GNOME XML library
ii  procps        1:3.2.8-2                  /proc file system utilities
ii  zlib1g        1:1.2.3.3.dfsg-15          compression library - runtime

Versions of packages gnumeric recommends:
ii  evince                        2.28.1-1   Document (postscript, pdf) viewer

Versions of packages gnumeric suggests:
ii  epiphany-browser              2.28.1-1   Intuitive GNOME web browser
ii  gnumeric-doc                  1.9.14-2   spreadsheet application for GNOME 
ii  gnumeric-plugins-extra        1.9.14-2   spreadsheet application for GNOME 
ii  ttf-liberation                1.04.93-1  Free fonts with the same metrics a
ii  ttf-mscorefonts-installer     3.0        Installer for Microsoft TrueType c

-- debconf information:
  gnumeric/existing-process: false
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As best as I can tell, this functionality was still working with 1.6.x, but
no longer with 1.8.x.