Excel drop down list: create, edit, remove and more advanced operations

The drop-down list is a kind of list box that displays a selection list and enables users to choose a single item from the list. This article is going to teach the fundamental procedures for working with drop-down lists, including how to create, modify, and delete drop-down lists in Excel. In addition to that, this article explains advanced procedures for drop-down lists, which improve their usefulness and enable them to resolve other Excel problems.

Create drop down list

Step 1

There are a lot of various approaches to making a drop-down list, and consequently, there are a lot of different approaches to editing dropdown lists in the event that you need to make modifications.

Step 2

To begin, you choose the cell or cells where you want the drop-down box to appear. This might be any cell in the spreadsheet. This may be a single cell, a range of cells, or the full column, depending on your needs. When you pick an entire column, a drop-down menu will automatically appear in each cell of that column. This is a very efficient feature that saves a lot of time.

Step 3

Simple Click the Data tab, then click the Data Validation tab, and finally choose the Data Validation option.

Step 4

Under the Settings tab of the Data Validation dialogue box, choose list from the Allow drop down list.

Choose the cell range whose values you want to show in the drop-down menu by selecting it in the Source box; To continue, choose the OK button.

Or You have the option of manually entering values that are separated by commas into the Source field, as illustrated in the picture below.

Step 5

If you click the cell that contains the drop-down list, an arrow will appear next to it. Clicking the arrow will cause the list to expand, and you will then be able to choose an item from inside it.

Edit drop down list

To change a drop down list that is based on a cell range, you may perform the following −

Step 1

After making a selection of the cells that include the drop-down list that you wish to change, go to the Data menu and then click on Data Validation.

Step 2

After making the necessary adjustments to the cell references in the Source box of the Data Validation dialogue box, you should click the OK button to commit the changes.

Step 3

Following that, drop-down lists that are based on this specified range are given an update.

Remove drop down list

Excel's built-in functionality has a tool that may assist in deleting drop down lists from worksheets. To clarify, please do the following −

Step 1

First, choose the cell range that contains the drop down list that you do not want to keep.

Step 2

After making a selection of the cells that include the drop-down list that you wish to removed, go to the Data menu and then click on Data Validation

Step 3

To save the changes you've made, open the Data Validation dialogue box, click the Clear All button, and then click the OK button.

Step 4

At this time, the specified range will no longer include drop down menus.