# In Excel, How do I ....

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-excel-how-do-i/43075>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 28, 2000, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-excel-how-do-i/43075 "2000-11-28T19:57:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-excel-how-do-i/43075/1 "2000-11-28T19:57:44Z")

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In Excel, I want a warning or caution message posted every time someone makes an entry into a cell.

I am placing an excel file on a shared directory here at the office, and people can go in and make additions, BUT THEY ALWAYS screw up, or forget the parameters. I want to back it up with a fat ol’ warning message. How to do???

(Disclaimer: I checked basic resources)

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**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-excel-how-do-i/43075/2 "2000-11-28T20:32:04Z")

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I’m assuming you actually want the users to be able to edit the worksheet, or else you could just set a password for that sheet.

**Method #1:**

Select the **Data** menu, then **Validation**. The drop-down list in the pop-up box shows you the type of data entry it can validate – e.g. whole numbers, date formats and so on. You can set a custom advisory message to appear when the cell is selected and another to appear if the input doesn’t validate.

For text lists you can set a range of values that will be accepted by typing them into a range of cells (horizontal or vertical, on this or any other worksheet in the workbook) – e.g. “Yes”,“No”,“N/A”. Select **List** as the type of data validation required, then highlight your range of acceptable values to indicate what Excel should compare against.

**Method #2:**

If you purely want an advisory message, right-click on the cell and select **Insert Comment** from the pop-up menu. This will create a little pop-up text box in the cell (indicated by a red triangle in the corner of the cell).

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**Author:** ![Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bottle_of_Smoke)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-excel-how-do-i/43075/3 "2000-11-28T21:04:05Z")

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mattk’s advice is spot on. Just one other thing:

> [@](#):
>
> For text lists you can set a range of values that will be accepted by typing them into a range of cells (horizontal or vertical, on this or any other worksheet in the workbook)

Depending on your version of Excel, you may not be able to select a range of cells that exist on a different sheet for use in your Validation. At least I can’t do this in Excel 2000.

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**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-excel-how-do-i/43075/4 "2000-11-28T21:25:37Z")

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Thanks.

Good info!