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Excel on Mac: Empty Drop-Down Menu (Data Validation)

Anonymous
2023-10-27T16:00:48+00:00

Hey folks -

I'm working with Excel 16.78 on the Mac and I have a worksheet with a few drop-down menus for their cells. All created with the Data Validation tool. The drop-down arrow appears and works fine. The list appears when the button is pressed. But the numbers in the list aren't shown on screen. They're there: if I select one of the "blank" entries in the list, Excel puts the number into the cell as expected. But I sort of have to guess which number is where on the list.

Even the scroll bar in the list is showing.

It's the same way for all four of the cells I have data validation set up in. And the funny thing is: if I hand this file to someone else, they can see the list fine on their own Excel installation.

Troubleshooting: I've deleted Excel off my Mac and re-installed it. That didn't seem to help. I'm sort of stumped as to what else I might try. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For business | MacOS

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Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435.9K Reputation points
2023-10-28T19:16:30+00:00

The mouse should do the same.

I believe you've discovered what I consider to be a bug. Please use Help> Feedback in the Excel menu to report it to the development team. Include a reference to this thread.

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Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435.9K Reputation points
2023-10-28T16:10:53+00:00

After playing with this for some time I believe I may have been able to reproduce it or a related issue. I'm not sure because the list content does appear when the list is first opened. However, if you position the pointer within the list & slightly "scroll" left/right a bit the content moves out of sight but returns when you scroll back in the opposite direction. Can you see whether this may be the case?

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-10-28T16:58:11+00:00

    After playing with this for some time I believe I may have been able to reproduce it or a related issue. I'm not sure because the list content does appear when the list is first opened. However, if you position the pointer within the list & slightly "scroll" left/right a bit the content moves out of sight but returns when you scroll back in the opposite direction. Can you see whether this may be the case?

    Nice catch Bob. I opened the worksheet on my laptop (with touch pad) vs my Mac Pro (keyboard and mouse) and tried side-scrolling. And the numbers appeared. It's like the menu created a right-justified list with a character or two's worth of filler space.

    I wonder if there's something similar I can do with a mouse on my Mac Pro.

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