Change the items in an Excel drop down list, depending on the value in another cell. For example, select "Fruit" in cell B2, and "apple, banana, peach" appear in the dependent drop down list in cell C2. Watch the video below, to see how it works, and written steps and sample files are below.
NOTE: There are other techniques for setting up dependent drop down lists, so choose the setup method that is best for your needs.
This animated screen shot shows how a simple dependent drop down list works.
There are setup instructions and a video in the next section.
In this dependent data validation video, select Fruit or Vegetable in the first column, to limit what is shown in the drop down list in the next column. The written instructions are below the video, and the full transcript is on the Dependent Drop Down Lists Video page.
NOTE: There are other techniques for setting up dependent drop down lists, so choose the setup method that is best for your needs.
Here are the step-by-step instructions for making dependent drop down lists in Excel. This example uses Fruit and Vegetable lists.
In the screen shot below, you can see the completed data entry sheet.
There are a few steps for setting up the drop down lists, and the details are in the sections below.
This example will have a workbook with two sheets -- a data entry sheet, and a sheet with lists.
Next, you'll create lists with items for the drop down lists.
In this example, you'll set up 3 lists. The main list has produce types, and the other two lists have items for the dependent drop downs.
To create each list, you'll do three things:
To type the lists, go to the Lists sheet. Start with the main list - Produce types.
NOTE: The Produce list has one-word items in it -- Fruit and Vegetable. This is important, because those words will be used as Excel names, and two-word names are not allowed as names. If you need to use multiple-word items in the main list, see: Using Two Word Items
Next, type the dependent lists, with the headings Fruit List (in cell D2) and Vegetable List (in cell F2). These lists can contain one-word items (apple), or multiple-word items (green beans).
Next, follow these steps, to format each list as an Excel Table. This makes your list dynamic -- the list size will adjust automatically if you add or remove items, so your drop down will show the entire list.
Follow these steps for each of the 3 lists:
Here is the Lists sheet, with all 3 lists formatted as Excel Tables
Next, follow these steps to create a named range for each formatted Excel Table.. Later, you will use this name, when making the drop down lists on the Data Entry sheet.
Next, follow these steps to name the fruit and vegetable lists.
Next, you'll add the main drop down (Produce Type) on the DataEntry sheet. This is just a normal data validation drop down list.
First, you'll enter headings on the data entry sheet, and set up a named table.
Next, you'll the main drop down list, in the Produce Type column
Next, you'll create a dependent drop down list in the Item column. This cell will have a formula to create the data validation drop down list. Read more about the INDIRECT function here.
Note: If cell B3 is empty, you'll see the message shown below. Click Yes to continue.
To test the dependent drop down lists, follow these steps
NOTE: If a Produce Type has not been selected, the Item drop down in that row will not work.
This is another example of dependent drop down lists in Excel. In this dependent data validation video, if a country is selected from the first drop down, only the cities from that country are in the drop down list.
This video shows the basic set up steps, and then shows how to use the Excel IF function with a dependent drop down.
With this dependent drop down technique, from AlexJ, you can see a full list of customers in a drop down list. Or, switch to a short list, with just your top customers. The technique is driven by a formula -- no macros required.
This short video shows the steps, and there are written steps below the video.
The first step is to create two named lists -- they will be used as the source for the drop down lists.
Next, you'll create the drop down list, by using data validation with an IF formula:
Select the cell with the data validation list, and click the drop down arrow.
If the cell does not contain the text "Full List", the drop down will show the short list of top customers.
If you need to see the full list, select "Full List" from the top of the drop down list, and then click the drop down arrow again.
The instructions in the previous sections show how to set up a basic dependent drop down list. Here are a few advanced examples.
In some workbooks, you might need to have two-word items in the first Excel data validation drop-down list. For example, your choices are 'Red Fruit', 'Green Fruit' and 'Yellow Fruit'
=INDIRECT(SUBSTITUTE(A2," ",""))
You may need items in the first Excel data validation drop-down list that contain characters not allowed in range names, such as the ampersand (&).
For example, your choices are 'Red Fruit', 'Green Fruit' and 'Yellow & Orange Fruit'. For the dependent lists, you can create ranges with one-word names, such as YOFruit. Then, create a lookup table, which lists each item in the first Excel data validation drop-down list, and the range where its dependent items will be stored.
To start, create the item lists and the first Excel data validation drop-down:
Next, you'll create the lookup table, to match each item with its dependent items' range name.
With Red Fruit selected in cell A2, the VLookup formula will return RedFruitList as the range name for the dependent list. The RedFruitList items will be displayed in cell B2's drop-down.
To create a 3rd dependent drop down list, use the same techniques, to create lookup tables and items lists.
In the screen shot below, there are lookup tables named RedFruitLookup, YOFruitLookup and GreenFruitLookup. Items lists, with the code names and "List", have been added to the worksheet.
In the data validation window, use this formula for the 3rd drop down:
=INDIRECT(VLOOKUP(B2, INDIRECT(VLOOKUP(A2, ProductLookup,2,0)&"Lookup"),2,0) &"List")
The formula finds the lookup table based on the product type selected in cell A2, e.g. RedFruitLook, and gets the code for the selected product -- Mac. It adds "List" to the code, and shows the items in the MacList range.
If you need to, you can add another set of dependent data validation dropdown lists that depend on the selections in the first two dropdowns. select a country and region, then select a city in the selected country and region.
Note that the region names are not unique -- there is a West region in both Canada and the USA -- so we can't show a City list that is only based on the region names.
To make sure that the correct list of cities appears, the city lists will be named for the country and region. There are 2 countries, and each country has 3 regions, so we will set up 6 named ranges for the 3rd level drop down lists.
NOTE: If you need more than a few named ranges for your 3rd level lists, try the Dependent Lists with Tables technique instead -- it will be easier to set up and maintain.
To set up 3-level dependent lists:
=INDIRECT(SUBSTITUTE(B2&C2," ",""))
Because the INDIRECT function only works with references, not formulas, the previous method for dependent data validation won't work with lists that use formula-based dynamic named ranges, such as OFFSET ranges. Use one of the following solutions when a dynamic list is required:
To avoid the problem, use named Excel tables, instead of formula-based dynamic ranges.
Then, use one of the INDIRECT function examples shown above, to create a dependent drop down list.
If you can't use the Named Excel Tables, use the following method for creating dependent lists from formula-based dynamic named ranges:
=OFFSET(INDIRECT($E2),0,0, COUNTA(INDIRECT(E2&"Col")),1)
if two-word items will be used, you can include the SUBSTITUTE function in the formula:
=OFFSET(INDIRECT(SUBSTITUTE($F2," ","")),0,0, COUNTA(INDIRECT(SUBSTITUTE($F2, " ","") &"Col")),1)
After someone selects an item from a dependent drop down, they could go back to the main drop down, and select a different item. That could result in mismatched items in that row.
For example, Fruit could be selected from the main drop down, and then Lemon in the dependent drop down. If Fruit is changed to Vegetable later, the Lemon selection would be incorrect -- it's not a vegetable.
To prevent invalid selections, here are a couple of techniques that you can use
To block changes to the first list, you can change the data validation formula, so the list does not appear unless the second cell is empty. This video shows you how this technique works, and written instructions are below the video.
With dependent drop down lists, problems can occur, if someone goes back to the first list, and changes it. Then, the first and second selections are mismatched -- for example, in the screen shot below, Vegetable is the first choice, and Banana is selected in the second column.
To block changes to the first list, you can change the data validation formula, so the list doesn't work unless the second cell is empty.
Instead of just referring to the Produce range for the Produce Type drop down, the formula will check for an entry in the Item column.
To change the formula:
=IF(C2="",Produce, INDIRECT("FakeRange"))
Now, the drop down in the first column won't work if the Item has been selected in that row.
In the previous section, the data validation formula was designed to prevent selections from the first drop down, if the cell to the right contained data.
Another option is to use a macro, to clear the dependent cell, after making a selecting in the first drop down. That will prevent mismatched selections.
In this example, column B contains a drop down list of Regions. After you select a Region, the drop down list in column C shows the customers in the selected region.
Go back and select a different region, and the existing customer name will be cleared.
When you select a Region, event code clears the cell to the right. To add the code, right-click the sheet tab, and click View Code.
Paste the following code onto the sheet module. You might need to change the column number, to match the column number on your worksheet.
NOTE: The sample workbook also has code for clearing multiple dependent cells.
Private Sub Worksheet_Change
_(ByVal Target As Range) On Error Resume Next If Target.Column = 2 Then If Target.Validation.Type = 3 Then Application.EnableEvents = False Target.Offset(0, 1).ClearContents End If End If exitHandler: Application.EnableEvents = True Exit Sub End Sub
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Dependent Drop Down Setup Choices
Dependent Drop Down from Dynamic Arrays
Dependent Drop Down Lists Video
Dependent Dropdowns from a Sorted List
Hide Previously Used Items in a Dropdown List
Use a Data Validation List from Another Workbook
Data Validation Criteria Examples
Data Validation With Combo Box
Last updated: December 13, 2020 12:13 PM