
In our sample worksheet, the drop-down list provides a selection of surgeons for you to choose that matches the type of surgery scheduled.Trouble viewing the screencast at work? Try signing up for new issues on our home page with your personal email address and watch the screencast from home. The main menu (or drop-down list) displays various options with submenus below each one that display further options related to the main menu. JD Sartain / IDG WorldwideĬhoose a doctor from the list or type an invalid entry for an Error Alert.ĭependent drop-down lists are like the submenus in Office applications. If anyone types an invalid name-that is, they try to type in a name that is not on the Acceptable Surgeon’s list, the custom error message that you specified appears when the Enter key is pressed. Click the down arrow and choose a doctor from the list that specializes in the type of surgery on the corresponding row of column A. Notice the arrow for the drop-down list box, and your custom Input Message appears to the right of each cell in this column that you select.

Move back to the wks spreadsheet and position your cursor in cell D2.

In fact, companies from hospitals and insurance carriers to banks and more use drop-down lists, check boxes, combo lists, and/or radio buttons to minimize typing and user errors.Įnter the Source range, Input Message, and Error Alerts for your drop-down list box.ġ6. This is how most wholesale and retail companies handle their product lines.

This works very well for ordering and inventory purposes because it divides all the products into manageable categories. This allows you to select a product category from the main menu drop-down list box (such as Beverages), then display all the related products from the submenu (dependent) drop-down list box (such as Apple Juice, Coffee, etc.). This is especially useful for fields that require specific information fields that have long or complex data that’s hard to spell or fields where you want to control the responses.Ĭreating dependent drop-down lists (when combined with an INDIRECT function) is another benefit. Drop-down lists in Microsoft Excel (and Word and Access) allow you to create a list of valid choices that you or others can select for a given field.
