Triangle in Excel cell

[Howard Brazee]

K20 looks like this

=IF(ISNUMBER(K19),SUM(C19:K19),"")

When K19 is a formula that displays like a number, the sum displays in
K20, but the cell has a little green triangle in its top left corner.

If I replace K19 with the number displayed, that triangle goes away.

What does that triangle mean? How do I eliminate it?

A large part of my variable sized spread sheets logic is to make
calculations not display anything when there are no data.

 

[Bernard Liengme]

From Help (searched for "triangle"):
A green triangle in the upper-left corner of a cell indicates an error in
the formula in the cell. If you select the cell, Trace Error appears. Click
the arrow next to the button for a list of options.


Click the cell with the triangle; look for a yellow warring sign (diamond
shape the !) and click it.
This tells you what error Excel thinks you have made. Often it is something
like Formula Ignores Adjacent Cells. This may be an error or it may be what
you want.

To have these triangles go away: with the cell selected,Tools | Error
Correction ->Ignore this error

This type of question is best asked in one of the Excel newsgroups.
best wishes

 

[Opinicus]

K20 looks like this
=IF(ISNUMBER(K19),SUM(C19:K19),"")
When K19 is a formula that displays like a number, the sum displays in
K20, but the cell has a little green triangle in its top left corner.
If I replace K19 with the number displayed, that triangle goes away.

I've tried several versions of this and can't create the problem.

What does that triangle mean? How do I eliminate it?

That triangle usually means there's an error of some kind. If you put the
cursor on a cell with one of those triangles, a little tag with a "!" on a
yellow diamond should pop up. If you click on the tag, you'll be presented
with a number of options to correct or ignore the warning.

 

[Bob I]

Select the cell and then put the cursor on the "!" to read the error
message.

 

[Howard Brazee]

Click the cell with the triangle; look for a yellow warring sign (diamond
shape the !) and click it.
This tells you what error Excel thinks you have made. Often it is something
like Formula Ignores Adjacent Cells. This may be an error or it may be what
you want.

It is "Inconsistent Formula". I select "Help on this error", and I
get a blank help window.

My real problem may be that I am going about the "Don't show me data
if I haven't created this row yet" issue.

If K21 contains =IF($B21=$B20,K20,"") and displays 4,
and L21 contains =IF(ISNUMBER(K21),SUM(C21:K21),"")
then L21 will display 36 with a triangle on it.

If I over type that 4 in K21 to be 4, then the triangle goes away.

I'll post this in an Excel group.

What is the Office newsgroup for if we are supposed to post questions
about Excel, Outlook, Word, etc in their own groups?

 

[Beth Melton]

aThe error indicator doesn't necessarily mean the formula is wrong - think
of it as "spell check for formulas". It's just flagging it to bring it to
your attention so you can take a closer look at it. In this case, what it's
telling you is that there are similar formulas in the same region that
contain different formulas. For example if you had =B2*C2, =B3*C3, in other
cells in the region, and then a formula such as =B3*C4, it would flag the
latter for you to take a look at - chances are in the scenario I cited the
formula would be incorrect.

If you take a closer look and find the formula is correct then just ignore
it.

As for this newsgroup, ideally it's for shared components or issues that
occur across more than one application. In general, you want to post
application specific questions to an application specific because you'll
find the most knowledgeable help in those newsgroups. A solution provided
here may not always be the best solution available.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Co-author of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9801.aspx#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Bob I]

It is "Inconsistent Formula". I select "Help on this error", and I
get a blank help window.

My real problem may be that I am going about the "Don't show me data
if I haven't created this row yet" issue.

If K21 contains =IF($B21=$B20,K20,"") and displays 4,
and L21 contains =IF(ISNUMBER(K21),SUM(C21:K21),"")
then L21 will display 36 with a triangle on it.

If I over type that 4 in K21 to be 4, then the triangle goes away.

I'll post this in an Excel group.

What is the Office newsgroup for if we are supposed to post questions
about Excel, Outlook, Word, etc in their own groups?

If it just the "triangle" that bugs you, just turn it off. Tools,
Options, Error Checking. Pick the ones that give you grief, or disable
all of the background checking.

As to Groups, this is Office Miscellaneous. There is Excel and
Excel.Misc. So you can get more specific help based on the problem you
are encountering. kind of like a service station, a body repair shop and
the dealer engine repair bay.