This may not be the cause of your problem but if Tools, Options, View, Hide
All (for Objects) is selected the drop downs will not be visible.

--
Jim Rech
Excel MVP

Nope, that was one of the first things I checked. I have it set to "Show
All", and also tried it with "Show Placeholders." Same phenomenon. But I
expanded on your suggestion and checked to see if by some weird mechanism
using the AutoFilter method changed that setting, and it didn't.

I should have mentioned only drawback to my solution is you can't do certain
things, such as add/delete rows/columns, with the autofilter set on, even if
you have it showing all data, so may not be a workaround for everyone.

Thanks and regards,
Krisa


"Jim Rech" wrote in message
...
This may not be the cause of your problem but if Tools, Options, View,
Hide
All (for Objects) is selected the drop downs will not be visible.

--
Jim Rech
Excel MVP

The problem is I get the same behavior on a laptop and 3 different PCs with
different operating systems and monitors ranging from a clunky old
not-even-flat screen to a souped-up LCD flat panel. The only time the
dropdowns do not disappear is when I run it in Excel 97.

Alt+Down Arrow made the choices appear, but not the arrows.

I just created a new little spreadsheet and tested the Autofilter on/off,
and of course it worked just fine. So perhaps there is some other part of
the coding that is influencing this event (it's quite a lengthy macro), or
some corruption in the spreadsheet. I did go back to a very old backup that
had originally been used in Excel 97, and it did the same thing. I'll keep
testing to see if I can narrow this down some more. I am painfully familiar
with corruption in Access, but thankfully not so experienced with Excel
corruption.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll post again with results of my tests.

Regards,
Krisa



"Jim Rech" wrote in message
...
I know it is no comfort but I have a macro that toggles AutoFilter on and
off using the "no arguments" method you mentioned and have never seen this
problem in any version of Excel. Almost sounds like a video driver
problem
but that would likely affect all versions of Excel. If it were video
related scrolling the filter cell off-screen and back would make the drop
down re-appear.

I don't suppose selecting the cell with the on-but-invisible auto-filter
and
pressing Alt-DownArrow to open the drop down manually makes the drop down
arrow re-appear?

--
Jim Rech
Excel MVP

Sometimes opening and closing the workbook helps. Sometimes not.

Sometimes minimizing and maximizing the window helps. Sometimes not. (Kind of
like Jim's scroll down suggestion.)

Sometimes removing the autofilter and reapplying helps. Sometimes not.

Sometimes those !! arrows just won't appear for me. (Mostly under xl2k and
winNT.)


Krisa wrote:

The problem is I get the same behavior on a laptop and 3 different PCs with
different operating systems and monitors ranging from a clunky old
not-even-flat screen to a souped-up LCD flat panel. The only time the
dropdowns do not disappear is when I run it in Excel 97.

Alt+Down Arrow made the choices appear, but not the arrows.

I just created a new little spreadsheet and tested the Autofilter on/off,
and of course it worked just fine. So perhaps there is some other part of
the coding that is influencing this event (it's quite a lengthy macro), or
some corruption in the spreadsheet. I did go back to a very old backup that
had originally been used in Excel 97, and it did the same thing. I'll keep
testing to see if I can narrow this down some more. I am painfully familiar
with corruption in Access, but thankfully not so experienced with Excel
corruption.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll post again with results of my tests.

Regards,
Krisa

"Jim Rech" wrote in message
...
I know it is no comfort but I have a macro that toggles AutoFilter on and
off using the "no arguments" method you mentioned and have never seen this
problem in any version of Excel. Almost sounds like a video driver
problem
but that would likely affect all versions of Excel. If it were video
related scrolling the filter cell off-screen and back would make the drop
down re-appear.

I don't suppose selecting the cell with the on-but-invisible auto-filter
and
pressing Alt-DownArrow to open the drop down manually makes the drop down
arrow re-appear?

--
Jim Rech
Excel MVP



--

Dave Peterson

Okay, I found the culprit, but I can't begin to explain it. Or reproduce
it.

At one point in the code, I copy a sheet into a new workbook by using the
simple command:

Sheets("Statistics").Copy

If I take that command out, the arrows stay put. If I leave it in, the
arrows disappear.

Naturally, when I strip down the macro to just the following and try it in a
new spreadsheet with a little test data, it works fine:

Sheets("Sheet2").Select
Sheets("Sheet2").Copy
ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs Filename:= _
"C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\Book5.xls", FileFormat:= _
xlNormal, Password:="", WriteResPassword:="",
ReadOnlyRecommended:=False _
, CreateBackup:=False
ActiveWindow.Close
Sheets("Sheet1").Select
Selection.AutoFilter
Range("A1:A6").Select
Selection.AutoFilter


Now, I do have to say there is a <lot of formatting in the problem
spreadsheet. My client is very fond of using different fonts and colors.
So maybe the video driver idea isn't a problem with the driver per se, but
with Excel 2K "running out of breath" with all the fonts, colors, arrows,
creating new workbooks, etc.? Which may be why sometimes
minimizing/maximizing opening/closing spreadsheets works?


Regards,
Krisa







"Dave Peterson" wrote in message
...
Sometimes opening and closing the workbook helps. Sometimes not.

Sometimes minimizing and maximizing the window helps. Sometimes not.
(Kind of
like Jim's scroll down suggestion.)

Sometimes removing the autofilter and reapplying helps. Sometimes not.

Sometimes those !! arrows just won't appear for me. (Mostly under xl2k
and
winNT.)


Krisa wrote:

The problem is I get the same behavior on a laptop and 3 different PCs
with
different operating systems and monitors ranging from a clunky old
not-even-flat screen to a souped-up LCD flat panel. The only time the
dropdowns do not disappear is when I run it in Excel 97.

Alt+Down Arrow made the choices appear, but not the arrows.

I just created a new little spreadsheet and tested the Autofilter
on/off,
and of course it worked just fine. So perhaps there is some other part
of
the coding that is influencing this event (it's quite a lengthy macro),
or
some corruption in the spreadsheet. I did go back to a very old backup
that
had originally been used in Excel 97, and it did the same thing. I'll
keep
testing to see if I can narrow this down some more. I am painfully
familiar
with corruption in Access, but thankfully not so experienced with Excel
corruption.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll post again with results of my tests.

Regards,
Krisa

"Jim Rech" wrote in message
...
I know it is no comfort but I have a macro that toggles AutoFilter on
and
off using the "no arguments" method you mentioned and have never seen
this
problem in any version of Excel. Almost sounds like a video driver
problem
but that would likely affect all versions of Excel. If it were video
related scrolling the filter cell off-screen and back would make the
drop
down re-appear.

I don't suppose selecting the cell with the on-but-invisible
auto-filter
and
pressing Alt-DownArrow to open the drop down manually makes the drop
down
arrow re-appear?

--
Jim Rech
Excel MVP



--

Dave Peterson

I have a macro that adds a new worksheet. Sometimes those !@#$!ing arrows show
up, sometimes they don't.

(But since I hand it off to someone else, I've stopped caring! (and answering
my phone).)

Jim Rech wrote:

Sheets("Statistics").Copy

Don't you love it went you narrow down a problem to a cause that makes no
sense, has no "moral", no lesson? It just looks as if your workbook/sheet
is weird. Weird workbooks sometimes just need to be re-made if they cause
consistent problems. Not a pleasant option usually.

--
Jim Rech
Excel MVP

--

Dave Peterson