how to create drop down list in excel for mac

Former Lifewire writer Ted French is a Microsoft Certified Professional who teaches and writes about spreadsheets and spreadsheet programs.

Create drop-down lists, or menus, in Excel to limit the data that can be entered into a specific cell to a preset list of entries.

Using a drop-down list for data validation makes data entry easier, prevents data entry errors, and restricts the number of locations for entering data.

The data that is added to a drop-down list can be located on either the same worksheet on the list, on a different worksheet within the same workbook, or in a completely different Excel workbook.

In this tutorial, the cookie types that can be selected in a drop-down list will be limited to an approved list.

Before following along with the tutorial, enter the data in columns D and E shown in the image below.

Select Data Validation to open the Data Validation dialog box.

Highlight cells E3 through E10 in the worksheet to add the data in this range of cells to the list.

A down arrow appears next to cell B3 indicating the presence of the drop-down list.

When you select the down arrow, the drop-down list opens to display the eight cookie names.

When youre finished with a drop-down list, remove it from a worksheet cell using the data validation dialog box.

Excel dynamically updates the range of data used for the list.

Youll find it on the Settings tab of the Data Validation dialog box.

How To Create Drop Down List In Excel For Mac