excel tutorialDrop-down Lists in Excel
Drop-down lists in Excel are helpful if you want to be sure that users select an item from a list, instead of typing their own values.
1. First, type the items that you want to appear in the drop-down list in a single column or row. Tip: place the items on another sheet. You can download the accompanied Excel file, if you want.
Note: we've sorted the items alphabetically, for this is the order in which they will appear in the drop-down list.
2. Select the cell where you want the drop-down list to appear. In this example, select cell B1 on Sheet1.
3. On the Data tab, click on Data Validation.
The 'Data Validation' dialog box appears.
4. In the Allow box, click List.
5. Select range("A1:A3") on Sheet2 by clicking on the button next to the textbox.
6. Click OK.
Result:
Tip: If don't want users to access the items on Sheet2, you can hide Sheet2. To achieve this, right click on the sheet tab of Sheet2 and click on Hide.
7. You can also type the items directly into the textbox, without using a second sheet, which gives the exact same result.
Note: by typing the names directly into the textbox, you are making your items static. In other words: they are not dependent of other cells.
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