How to create Drop Down List Box in Excel
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How to create Drop Down List Box in Excel
If you are using Excel 2007 / 2010, then go to the developer tab and click on the Insert menu. You can then select various ActiveX and Form controls and simply put it on to the sheet.
Perhaps what you are after is using a Data Validation drop down list, which requires no VBA.
You may either create a list of items on the same or another sheet or, if the list is short just type the items directly in Source box in the dialog.
Menu > Data tab > Data validation > pick List from the options
In the Source box either type the list items: e.g. Orange, Mango, Banana, etc
Or, if you have a longer list, enter the values on a sheet and in the Source box provide the sheet/range reference: e.g. Sheet2!A1:A10
For more detailed help, read here
Plenty of video demos on YouTube as well. Try a search there on Excel Data validation
There are multiple ways in which you can create a dropdown list in Excel.
Data Validation
Form Control (Combo Box)
ActiveX Control (Combo Box)
But of these methods, Data Validation is the most used method, for its simplicity. Later on, I’ll explain the pros and cons of each method, so that you can choose the best method among these for you.
Before going to explain how to create a dropdown list, let me tell you what a Data Validation is? It controls the type of data or the values that users enter into a cell. For example, you may want to enter only positive values in a cell, only ‘time’ in a column, or a text below the specified length. You can define all these conditions through Data Validation. Even dropdown list is a data validation where you’re constraining the user to use only those set of words in that cell. Again, in creating a dropdown list through data validation, there are different ways in doing it.
Writing the complete list in the Source Field
1) Select the Cell (or) set of Cells in which you want to see the dropdown. 2) Go to “Data” Tab –> Data Validation –> Data Validation 3) Select List in the “Allow box” 4) Just enter the names you want to see in the dropdown list in the “Source” Box