Creating a drop-down menu in a single cell in Excel

Do you know how to create a drop-down menu in a single cell in Excel? Watch this to find out!

Creating a drop-down menu in a single cell in Excel

Drop-down lists are a good way to create a drop-down menu in a single cell of an Excel worksheet. To set up a drop-down list, create a new blank sheet in your workbook. Then, in a single row or column, insert the items you need to appear in the list, in the order you want them to appear. Be sure that there are no empty cells between the entries.

Then highlight the whole range of cells that contain your entries. Click on it with the right mouse button and select “Define name”. Enter a name for your list in the “Name” field. Make sure that the name does not contain any spaces. Verify that the Workbook is selected as the Scope in order to make this list available to other sheets in the same workbook. Select OK. Navigate to the sheet where the drop down list is to appear and highlight the cell where the list is to be located.

Click Data Validation under the Data ribbon. Select List from the Allow menu under the Settings tab.

Next, enter an equal sign followed by the name of your list in the source field. Verify that it is written exactly the way it was when it was created.

Remember to also make sure that Dropdown is being followed in the cell. Finally, if it’s okay for users to leave the menu unchecked, keep the Ignore box checked as well. Once you’re done, click OK. Now your dropdown list should work.