Forum Discussion
Blue Triangles
What is the meaning of blue triangle on left side of cell in excel, and how can they be deleted?
11 Replies
- JoeUser2004Bronze Contributor
Jack_Benson wrote: ``how can they be deleted?``
I have not seen an answer to your question.
Presumably, you are talking about the triangle in the upper-left corner of some cells, shown below, that have a diamond "!" to the left when we select the cell, and that expand to a menu of options when we click the diamond. See B2 and B6 below:
BTW, note that the color is indeed blue. See below.
Excel calls this "background error checking". But they are warnings, not errors. And 99% of the time, they are a misdirection.
For example, this warning arises because the SUM formulas in column B (shown in column C) do not reference all of the adjacent contiguous range of numbers. Well, so what?! That was my choice.
You can choose to click "Ignore Error" for each cell.
But IMHO, it is better to disable the feature altogether.
In my version of Excel, I get to the option by clicking File > Options > Formula. The navigation might be different in your version. Also, the appearance of the option might be different.
In any case, click next to "Enable background error checking" to remove the checkmark.
Also click "Reset Ignored Errors" to remove any warnings (upper-left triangles) that already exist.
Then click "OK" to commit the option.
Finally, note that the color of the warning indicator can be selected from the menu to the right of "Indicate errors using this color". The default is green, at least in my version of Excel. But presumably someone selected blue for your Excel.
No matter. Just a note for everyone else's edification.
- DaveBurtonCopper Contributor
Thank you for the very helpful info.
(My triangles default to blue, in Office 2010.) - Detlef_LewinSilver Contributor
Finally, note that the color of the warning indicator can be selected from the menu to the right of "Indicate errors using this color". The default is green, at least in my version of Excel. But presumably someone selected blue for your Excel.
I never really noticed that option.
- Detlef_LewinSilver ContributorAre you sure it's blue?
Are you sure you are using Excel?- Jack_BensonCopper Contributor
Yes & YesDetlef_Lewin
- SergeiBaklanDiamond Contributor
Actually all possible triangles in cells are explained here What are those buttons and triangles in my cells? (microsoft.com) . But no blue, only green and red.