Excel - validation to make a drop down list

General Questions
#1

I have used Validation to create a drop down list in Excel, so far so good.

My question is - currently users have to click on the drop down and select an item from the list using their mouse or type in the word exactly as it appears in the list.

In Access, when you have drop down lists, you can start typing letters and it will come up with suggestions based on the letters you’ve typed. Is it possible to have a similar thing in my Excel worksheet?

The reason I ask is that I have about 15 columns of drop down lists, with about 300 rows of information to be completed. That’s quite mouse intensive for a user to complete.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

#2

I had the same problem as yourself.

I was also looking for the same solution as yourself as a lot of the users of the Excel Spreadsheet were happier using the keyboard to input data.

Whilst I was unable to find a way to mimic the Access funtionallity as you have mentioned, I did notice that the order of the drop-down list was the same as the order of the list I used for the data validation.

Rather than put the validation list in alphabetical order, I put them in order of frequency that they were likely to be encountered so when clicking on the drop-down box the most common selections were at the top of the list.

This kept the users happy and is an easy fix.

#3

That’s a very good suggestion! Cheers!