Clearing data in a cell but not the formatting

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Level 1

8 points

Clearing data in a cell but not the formatting

I have a spreadsheet with a column of entries that are formatted as a pop-up menu. What I am trying to do is clear the data values, but not delete the pop-up formatting. I can't find a way to do that. If I select the column and hit the delete key, the data disappears as expected, but so does the pop-up menu. If I use the edit menu and select either "Delete" or "Clear", the same thing happens. Is there any way that I can delete the data from these cells, without losing the pop-up menu?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 19, 2020 9:22 AM

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Answer 1

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Barry

Level 9

59,861 points

Oct 19, 2020 3:53 PM in response to JSA271

The 'data' in these cells is the list of values to choose from. Making a choice makes that item the displayed (and active) data. As you've found, deleting or clearing the contents removes all of that data.

To 'remove' the currently set item without deleting the menu, you need to reset the menu(s) to a different item.

If these popup cells are all copies of the same menu, AND all have been constructed to "Begin with" 'blank'…

Set the first menu in the set to 'none'.
Copy.
Select all of the cells with the same menu.
Paste.

This resets the first, then replaces each of the other cells' content with a copy of the menu, with that setting,

If the cells' menus contain different sets of values, you can 'remove' the data by setting each pop-up to 'none' (Provided you have the cells set to Start with blank, and not with First item).

Regards,

Barry

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Answer 2

JSA271 Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 19, 2020 4:35 PM in response to Barry

Thank you, Barry. The steps you outline with your bullets are what I finally ended up doing.

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Clearing data in a cell but not the formatting

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