The little dropdown arrow that shows up in every table cell in Google Docs is really bothering me. Every time I click on a cell, this border menu appears and it’s super annoying when I’m just trying to edit text. I’m not a technical person, just a regular user who knows their way around computers pretty well. I’m using Chrome browser on Windows 7 (got this laptop for free so I’m stuck with the old OS for now). Is there any way to turn off or hide these dropdown arrows that keep popping up in table cells? I just want to type in my table without all these extra menus getting in the way.
Google Docs doesn’t let you turn off those annoying table cell dropdown menus. I’ve found a workaround though - use keyboard navigation. Click once to select a cell, then hit Tab to move between cells instead of clicking directly. This avoids triggering those dropdown arrows while you edit. Also, double-click directly on existing text in cells rather than single-clicking empty space. The dropdowns are less aggressive when you’re editing existing content vs creating new text. It’s one of those interface quirks Google hasn’t fixed despite years of user complaints.
There’s no built-in way to disable those dropdown arrows in Google Docs table cells. I’ve been dealing with this annoyance for years and found a couple tricks that help. Click toward the center of cells instead of near the edges - that’s where the dropdown triggers most. If you’re typing a lot, just start typing right after selecting the cell without clicking again. This usually skips the dropdown menu completely. The arrows are baked into Google’s table system, so you can’t remove them. But being more careful about where you click makes editing way less frustrating.
hey, i totally get how annoying those dropdowns are! try this: click to select the cell, then just start typing right away without clicking again. also, if you click in the middle instead of the edges, it helps avoid the dropdowns too. good luck!