If you try all of the above solutions, and the drop down arrows are still missing, the worksheet may be corrupted. On the Settings tab, add a check mark to In-cell drop down.In the Data Tools group, click Data Validation.Select the cell that contains a data validation list.In the Data Validation dialog box, you can turn off the option for a drop down list. Under ‘For Objects, Show’, select All, then click OKĮven though the default setting for a data validation list is to show the arrow, it’s possible to change that setting.Scroll down to the ‘Display Options for This Workbook’ section.Click the Office Button, then click Excel Options.To make the objects visible again, follow these steps: Because they’re objects too, the drop down arrows will also be hidden. Maybe there were some other shapes on the worksheet, like logos, or text boxes, and you changed a setting to hide them. If you want drop down arrows that are always visible, you can use combo boxes instead of data validation. If you want to make it easy to find the cells that have data validation lists, you can colour the cells, or add a cell comment.

So, you might have 100 cells with data validation drop down lists, but you’ll only see the arrow in the active cell. The data validation drop down arrow only shows when you click on the cell.

Later, you opened that workbook, and the data validation arrows are missing! What happened, and how do you get those arrows back? You should see a new sheet with all the issues listed.You added some data validation drop down lists to your Excel worksheet, to make it easier to enter the data. In the Compatibility Checker dialog box click the Copy to New Sheet button In the Info section, select the Check for Issues drop-down Using The Compatibility Checker to Find Data Validation Errors:

You can manually search through each of your Data Validation rules within your workbook however, that may be a daunting task if you have a lot of tabs to search through. An easier way is to use the Compatibility Checker to search for you. This can occur as the Source input for a List rule. Removing External Links From Data Validation RulesĮxternal Links can reside in Data Validation rules.

Remove drop down menu in excel 2016