Dont draw the rectangle - just select the cells and then apply the shadow.
Excel will create the transparent rectangle and shadow it correctly.

"Woody13" wrote:

I have created something but cannot recreate it and cannot remember what I
did differently. Clicked on Rectangle to form a perimeter around a few cells
and wanted it to look 3-D, which I have done in the past with the shadow
function, specifically shadow style 6. The rectangle I made transparent so
that I can see the numbers underneath. Now when I try this, the shadow does
not form correctly. Because its transparent I can see through it and see the
shadow line behind it instead of it looking like a white box with a grey
shadow. Hard to describe but can someone help? Thanks.