Here’s the quickest way to set up a drop down menu in Excel:
- In your Excel workbook, select the cells that you want to apply the drop down menu to.
- Click on the Data Validation menu (in the Data tab in the Excel Ribbon), or use the shortcut Alt-A-V-V.
- In the “Allow:” dropdown menu, select “List”.
- In the “Source:” box, enter in your values separated by commas.
- Click OK to save the Data Validation options. Your cells will now have a menu when they are selected in Excel.
- Select the cells that you want to contain the lists.
- On the ribbon, click DATA > Data Validation.
- In the dialog, set Allow to List.
- Click in Source, type the text or numbers (separated by commas, for a comma-delimited list) that you want in your drop-down list, and click OK.
How do you make a drop down menu in Excel?
How to Create a Drop-Down List in Excel: Introducing the “1 Minute Drop–Down“
- Go to the “Data” tab. This step is easy! ...
- Click “Data Validation”. Now click the button “Data validation” in the middle of the ribbon ( do not click the little arrow – simply click the top part ...
- Choose the “List”. ...
- Select the source. ...
- Here’s the end result! ...
How do I create a drop down menu?
Steps:
- Click the name of your main menu.
- Choose one of the menu items to be the header for your drop-down menu, or add a new menu item to be the header. ...
- Add menu items to include in the new drop-down menu. ...
- Click and drag the menu items to nest below the header item.
- Click Save menu.
How to create drop down buttons in Excel?
Now let’s see how to get the Grade to the drop-down list as follows:
- Go to the Data tab.
- Select the data validation option.
- You will get the dialogue box which will show validation criteria.
- Choose the List option from the drop-down list.
- Place the cell in the G column as shown below in the screenshot to get the drop-down list menu.
- Select the database column from C2:C8.
- Click ok.
How do I create drop down list in Excel?
To create a drop-down list in Excel, execute the following steps. 1. On the second sheet, type the items you want to appear in the drop-down list. Note: if you 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. 2. On the first sheet, select cell B1. 3.
Community Q&A
How can I add a drop down list, but not show all of the items in each row?
Tips
After you finish creating your drop-down list, open the drop-down list to make sure all the items you entered display properly. In some cases, you may need to widen the cell in order to display all your items fully.
Warnings
You will not be able to access the "Data Validation" menu if your worksheet is protected or shared. In this case, make sure to remove the protection or unshare the document, and then try to access the Data Validation menu again.
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How to Create a Drop-Down List in Excel?
Click on the data menu and choose the data validation menu as shown below.
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How to add drop down menu in Excel?
Here’s the quickest way to set up a drop down menu in Excel: In your Excel workbook, select the cells that you want to apply the drop down menu to. Click on the Data Validation menu (in the Data tab in the Excel Ribbon), or use the shortcut Alt-A-V-V. In the “Allow:” dropdown menu, select “List”. In the “Source:” box, enter in your values separated ...
What does "drop down menu" mean in Excel?
It means you can simply refer to a column within an Excel table, and the menu will automatically update based on the items in that list. If you anticipate adding extra items to your drop down menu over time, then this method is the best long-term solution as it’s the “cleanest” way to refer to your list of menu items.
What if you want to update your menu items later?
What if you want to update your menu items later? If one of the departments in your company has a name change, then you would have to select all of the cells that use the drop down menu, and manually update the details .
Which is better: drop down list or drop down menu?
Drop down list method #1 is the quickest way, but not very good for long-term Excel files. Method #2 is a little more stable and allows you to consistently edit the drop down menu items without breaking anything. Method #3 requires you to create an Excel Table, but is perfect for creating a foolproof drop down Excel menu ...
What is the benefit of using tables in Excel?
That name can be referred to throughout your work. And a huge benefit of tables is that they will automatically expand when extra data is added to them.
How to use list in Excel?
Select the cells that you want to use the list, and go to the Data Validation option (in the Data tab). In the Settings screen, select List from the “Allow:” box. In the “Source:” box, select the range of cells that contain your list.
Can you allow blank values in Excel?
Depending on your requirements, you can allow blank values, and you can choose to hide the in-cell dropdown menu. (optional) Use the options in the Input Message tab if you want a message to appear when the cell is selected.
How to create a drop down list in Excel?
To create a drop-down list in Excel, execute the following steps. 1. On the second sheet, type the items you want to appear in the drop-down list. Note: if you 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.
How to add a drop down list to the end of a list?
You can also use a formula that updates your drop-down list automatically when you add an item to the end of the list. 1. On the first sheet, select cell B1. 2. On the Data tab, in the Data Tools group, click Data Validation. The 'Data Validation' dialog box appears. 3.
How to create dependent drop down list?
For example, if the user selects Pizza from a first drop-down list. 2. A second drop-down list contains the Pizza items. 3. But if the user selects Chinese from the first drop-down list, the second drop-down list contains the Chinese dishes.
How to allow other entries in Excel?
Allow Other Entries. You can also create a drop-down list in Excel that allows other entries. 1. First, if you type a value that is not in the list, Excel shows an error alert. To allow other entries, execute the following steps. 2. On the Data tab, in the Data Tools group, click Data Validation.
How to add drop down list in Excel?
Drop-down lists make it easier and more efficient to enter data into your spreadsheets. Simply click the arrow and select an option. You can add drop-down lists to cells in Excel containing options such as Yes and No, Male and Female, or any other custom list of options.
Where is the down arrow button in Excel?
When the cell containing the drop-down list is selected, you’ll see a down arrow button to the right of the cell. If you added an input message, it displays below the cell. The down arrow button only displays when the cell is selected. Click the down arrow button to drop down the list of options and select one.
What does "ignore blank" mean in Excel?
The “Ignore blank” check box is checked by default. This means that the user can select the cell and then deselect the cell without selecting an item. If you want to require the user to select an option from the drop-down list, uncheck the Ignore blank check box.
Can you have multiple drop down lists in Excel?
If you have many drop-down lists you need to add on a worksheet, you may want to put the lists of options on another worksheet in the same workbook. You can hide the worksheet containing your lists of options to prevent them from being changed.
What Are Data Validation Lists?
Creating a drop-down list is a great way to ensure that entries are uniform and free from spelling errors. It also helps restrict entries so that only values you’ve approved make it onto the sheet.
How to Create a Drop-down (Data Validation) List
To create a drop-down list, start by going to the Data tab on the Ribbon and click the Data Validation button.
Shortcut for Selecting from the Drop-down List
To choose the option you want from your drop-down list, you can use your mouse to click on the option you want. Another way to select it is to use the keyboard shortcut Alt +? . This brings up the drop-down list and you can use your up and down arrow keys to highlight the selection you want, and then press Enter to select.
How to Search the Drop-down List
Unfortunately, Excel doesn't have an option to search the drop-down list for a particular item, but I've created an add-in that gives you that option. It's called List Search and you can access that add-in here:
How to Copy the Data Validation List to Other Cells
If you have created a drop-down list for a particular cell and would like other cells to have the same data validation list, you can easily copy (extend) that list to other cells.
Handling Errors and Invalid Inputs
What happens when we enter a value into a cell that has a Data Validation List, but that value is not one of the options in the list? That depends on the Error Alert settings, which we have control of.
Adding New Data to the Source Range of the List
Adding new options to our drop-down list is possible, but it isn't automatic when we add new items the bottom of our source list. We need to tell Excel what our new extended source range is. You can do that in the Data Validation window by just typing in the new range, or re-selecting the range to include the new data.
1. Create a Drop Down List
In this method, we will see how we can create a drop-down list filter. For this, we are going to use the dataset below. The dataset contains some candidate names in column B. Now, we want to make a list of the candidates if they are selected or not in column C. We will create a drop-down list filter to make the work done easily.
2. Excel Drop Down List Filter to Extract Data
In this method, we will see how to extract data or filter data based on a drop-down list selection in excel. So, here we have a dataset that contains some product id in column B, the name of the products in column C, and the county name in column D.
3. Excel Sort And Filtering Data from Drop Down List
In excel, there are lots of exciting tools which we can use in our daily work. Sort and Filter toolbar is one of the features we can easily make a drop-down list filter in our data. Likewise the above methods, We are going to use the same dataset, with product id, product name, and country.
4. Filtering Data in Excel Using Search
By the same token, now we will see the drop-down data filtering using search. For this, we are using the same dataset as shown in the earlier methods.
6. Number Filtering in Excel Drop Down List Filter
To manipulate numbers, we can use Number Filters. For this, we are going to use the dataset below.
7. Date Filters in Excel Drop Down List
To view the data in a certain time period, we can use the date filter. To do this, we are going to use the dataset below which is similar to the previous one but in addition, this dataset has a delivery date column. So, let’s look at the steps.
What The Excel Drop Down Menu Looks Like
- Open the Excel spreadsheet file you want to edit. You can find and double-click a saved Excel file on your computer, or open Microsoft Excel and create a new worksheet.
- Enter the list of values for your drop-down in a column. Make sure to enter each drop-down entry in a separate, consecutive cell in the same column. For example, if you want your drop-down list to include "New York," "Boston," and "Los Angeles," you can type "New York" in cell A…
Introducing The Data Validation Menu
Process
Benefits
What’s The Solution?
- You can’t create a drop down list in Excel without using the Data Validation feature. Think of Data Validation is a restriction or limitation that Excel applies to the cells you specify. You can choose the criteria, of course. You can force cells to be integers, dates, or values from a specific list (which is what you’ll be using for creating these menus) and a few other options. The Data V…
Even More Benefits!
- Here’s the quickest way to set up a drop down menu in Excel: 1. In your Excel workbook, select the cells that you want to apply the drop down menu to. 2. Click on the Data Validation menu (in the Data tab in the Excel Ribbon), or use the shortcut Alt-A-V-V. 3. In the “Allow:” dropdown menu, select “List”. 4. In the “Source:” box, enter in your valu...