Video: Create and manage drop-down lists (2023)

FAQs

How do I create a simple drop-down list? ›

On the worksheet where you applied the drop-down list, select a cell that has the drop-down list. Go to Data > Data Validation. On the Settings tab, click in the Source box, and then change your list items as needed.

In your document, place your insertion point where you want to add the drop-down list. Next, select the “Developer” menu. On the “Developer” menu, in the “Controls” group, click the “Drop-Down List Content Control” icon (It looks like an actual drop-down icon.). You now have a drop-down list in your document.

Under Insert controls, click Multiple-Selection List Box. If you cleared the Automatically create data source check box in step 3, select a repeating field in the Multiple-Selection List Box Binding dialog box to which you want to bind the multiple-selection list box.

There are limits to the number of items that will show in a data validation drop down list: The list can show up to show 32,767 items from a list on the worksheet. If you type the items into the data validation dialog box (a delimited list), the limit is 256 characters, including the separators.

A drop-down menu is a list of options that is revealed only when a user interacts with the menu, either by clicking it or hovering over it with their cursor. The menu options then descend vertically and disappear again once the user disengages from the menu.

A drop-down menu is a list of options that gets revealed vertically when a user interacts with the menu by either clicking on it or hovering over it with their cursor.

Offering drop-down menus can help users avoid scrolling and can quickly get them access to your site's content. For large websites, drop-down menus can save users time by allowing them to jump down a level or two to get to the content they seek.

How do I create a smart drop-down list in Excel? ›

Select the cell in the worksheet where you want the drop-down list. Go to the Data tab on the Ribbon, then click Data Validation . On the Settings tab, in the Allow box, click List . If it's OK for people to leave the cell empty, check the Ignore blank box.

Drop-down Menu: Dynamic Select. The drop-down menu is a clear method of showing a list of data, allowing users to pick their choice from the list. This field can be categorized into two types based on the choice of selection types offered.

An Excel Pivot Table is a tool to explore and summarize large amounts of data, analyze related totals and present summary reports designed to: Present large amounts of data in a user-friendly way. Summarize data by categories and subcategories.

Make a checklist you can check off in Word. To create a list that you can check off in Word, add content controls for checkboxes to your document.

A drop-down list is the handiest way to let people choose from specific items for a field in a Microsoft Word document. The option to add a drop-down list is a bit hidden in Microsoft Word, but this tutorial makes it easy.

Excel Drop Down Lists are intuitive to use and extremely useful in when you are creating an Excel Dashboard or a data entry form. You can create multiple drop-down lists in Excel using the same source data.

Select the cell where you want the Dependent/Conditional Drop Down list (E3 in this example). Go to Data –> Data Validation. In the Data Validation dialog box, within the setting tab, make sure List in selected.

How do I insert the same drop down list into multiple cells? ›

Copy drop down lists across multiple rows

To copy the dependent drop down list, let's do a regular copy/pasting: Select the cell with the secondary drop-down (C3) and press Ctrl + C to copy it. Select all other cells where you want the dependent list to appear (C4:C12) and press Ctrl + V to paste the copied contents.

There are 5–15 options.

It's acceptable to use either a listbox or a dropdown list. Favor a dropdown list if screen space is limited.

Dropdown buttons can use a single button or a split button with a toggle for triggering the menu. There are two types of dropdowns – single button and split button.

A standard list box is a box containing a list of multiple items, with multiple items visible. A drop-down list is a list in which the selected item is always visible, and the others are visible on demand by clicking a drop-down button.

Menus allow users to make a selection from multiple options. They are less prominent and take up less space than selection controls, such as a set of radio buttons. Dropdown menus display a list of options, triggered by an icon, button, or action. Their placement varies based on the element that opens them.

In Microsoft Excel, the data validation feature helps you control what can be entered in your worksheet. For example, you can: create a drop down list of items in a cell. restrict entries, such as a date range or whole numbers only. create custom rules for what can be entered.

What is Data Validation in Excel with example? ›

Data validation in Excel is a feature that allows you to control the type of data entered into your worksheet. For example, Excel data validation allows you to limit data entries to a selection from a dropdown list and to restrict certain data entries, such as dates or numbers outside of a predetermined range.

The Static Dropdown is for cases when you, as a form author, want to provide, ahead of time, in Form Builder, the list of all the different choices users will be able to choose from. This is in contrast with the Dynamic Dropdown where the list of choices will be loaded at runtime from a service you provide.

Mega menus allow the user to see all the options at once, without keeping everything in mind, and the icons help to make the navigation more intuitive. In general, drop down menu is the most popular type of multi-level menus, allowing you to give more direct links to site pages than the standard navigation bar does.

Dropdown lists are a handy way to make data entry and validation more efficient in Excel. We've now added AutoComplete functionality, which automatically compares the text typed in a cell to all items in the dropdown list and displays only the items that match.

In the same or in another spreadsheet, select a cell or several cells in which you want your primary drop-down list to appear. Go to the Data tab, click Data Validation and set up a drop-down list based on a named range in the usual way by selecting List under Allow and entering the range name in the Source box.

Under Insert controls, click Multiple-Selection List Box. If you cleared the Automatically create data source check box in step 3, select a repeating field in the Multiple-Selection List Box Binding dialog box to which you want to bind the multiple-selection list box.

Drop-downs allow people to pick an item from a list that you create. In a new worksheet, type the entries you want to appear in your drop-down list. Ideally, you'll have your list items in an Excel table .

It's a list that we can select from in order to filter attendance data by department. The source of this dynamic data validation list has been created using the UNIQUE function. UNIQUE is a Dynamic Array Formula that returns all the unique values from a data range. In other words, it removes duplicates from a data set.

How do I edit a drop down menu in Excel? ›

A cascading drop-down list is a series of dependent DropDownList controls in which one DropDownList control depends on the parent or previous DropDownList controls. The items in the DropDownList control are populated based on an item that is selected by the user from another DropDownList control.

For all your empty cells, enter just a single empty character. Select a cell, hit the space bar, get out of the cell, and copy that value down. Now, your empty cells technically aren't empty because they contain a space. And by doing so, the drop down list now starts from the top again.

What is AutoComplete for dropdown list? AutoComplete algorithm for dropdown list matches the string you type in the dropdown list cell with words from items in the dropdown list and then shows only the matching list items.

Also, Data Validation doesn't have an AutoComplete feature, which finds matching items in the list as you start to type. To overcome these limitations, you can add a combo box to your worksheet, and use programming to make it appear in cells that contain a data validation list.

Make sure the Enable fill handle and cell drag-and-drop option is selected. If this option is disabled, AutoFill will not work. You can also try changing the AutoFill options. To do this, go to File > Options > Advanced, scroll down to the Editing options section, and click on the AutoFill Options button.