Turning Off Error Checking

Summary: A little green triangle in the corner of a cell means that Excel thinks there is an error with the cell contents. If those triangles bother you, here's how to turn them off. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 2002, Excel 2003, and Excel 2007.)

While you have Excel 2002, Excel 2003, or Excel 2007 open, it is constantly checking in the background for potential errors in your worksheets. If an error is located (or, at the least, what Excel thinks is an error), then the cell is "flagged" with a small green triangle in the upper-left corner of the cell.

If you don't want Excel to check for errors, you can turn the feature off by following these steps in Excel 2002 or Excel 2003:

Choose Options from the Tools menu. Excel displays the Options dialog box.
Make sure the Error Checking tab is displayed. (Click here to see a related figure.)
Clear the Enable Background Error Checking check box.
Click OK.

You turn off the feature in Excel 2007 by following these steps:

Click the Office button and then click Excel Options. Excel displays the Excel Options dialog box.
Click Formulas at the left side of the dialog box. (Click here to see a related figure.)
Clear the Enable Background Error Checking check box.
Click OK.

Any existing green triangles should disappear, and Excel stops checking for errors.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2369) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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Turning Off Error Checking