
Your cells will now have a menu when they are selected in Excel.
Click OK to save the Data Validation options. In the “Source:” box, enter in your values separated by commas. In the “Allow:” dropdown menu, select “List”. Click on the Data Validation menu (in the Data tab in the Excel Ribbon), or use the shortcut Alt-A-V-V.
In your Excel workbook, select the cells that you want to apply the drop down menu to. Here’s the quickest way to set up a drop down menu in Excel: Difficult to keep consistent if you need to change your list of dropdown menu items. There are some dangers with this option (and the other methods will work around these risks) but it is easily the fastest way to implement a drop down menu. If you have a fixed list of values that you want to choose from, you can enter them manually into the “Source:” box when you change the Validation options. OK, enough of the introduction – let’s create a drop down menu in Excel! Excel Drop Down List Method #1 (quickest): Enter Your Menu Options Manually In each of the three methods below, you will use this feature to choose the items in our menu. The Data Validation menu is in the Data tab in the Excel Ribbon: You can force cells to be integers, dates, or values from a specific list (which is what you’ll be using for creating these menus) and a few other options. Think of Data Validation is a restriction or limitation that Excel applies to the cells you specify.
You can’t create a drop down list in Excel without using the Data Validation feature. This is just a simple example that might be used in an office environment, and we’ll go through this example throughout this post.Īnd before we get into the specific points of each method, read on to find out about the Data Validation feature which is a key part of setting up a drop down menu in Excel. These kinds of forms need to be filled out in a certain way, so it’s helpful to limit values so that Bob in Accounts knows exactly which budget line to allocate the Christmas Party funds to.
From the Chart Tools, Layout tab, Current Selection group, select the Vertical (Value) Axis.The company you work at might have a Finance or HR form which looks similar to the above. Make sure that the chart is still selected. In the dialog box under Horizontal (Category) Axis Labels, click Edit. From the Design tab, Data group, select Select Data. From the Chart Tools, Layout tab, Current Selection group, select the Horizontal (Category) Axis. Make sure that you select the headings as well as the data before you create your chart.
MADE NEW CUSTOM LIST FOR SORT IN EXCEL MAC SERIES
In the Series name box, enter the cell reference for the name of the series or use the mouse to select the cell, click OK.Īrrange your data so that headings are directly above and to the left of the data to be charted.In the dialog box under Legend Entry Series, select the first series and click Edit.In the Axis label range enter the cell references for the x-axis or use the mouse to select the range, click OK.In the Select Data Source dialog box under Horizontal (Category) Axis Labels, click Edit.There should be no blank rows or columns. 264How can I make an Excel chart refer to column or row headings?Īrrange your data so that headings are directly above and to the left of the data to be charted.