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Table Of Contents
101 Excel 2013 Tips, Tricks and Timesavers
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Tip 58: Creating a Drop-Down List in a Cell
Most Excel users probably assume that some advanced feature (such as a VBA macro) is required to display a drop-down list in a cell. But it’s not. You can easily display a drop-down list in a cell — no macros required.
Figure 58-1 shows an example. Cell B2, when selected, displays a down arrow. Click the arrow, and you get a list of items (in this case, month names). Click an item, and it appears in the cell. The drop-down list can contain text, numeric values, or dates. Your formulas, of course, can refer to cells that contain a drop-down list. The formulas always use the value that’s currently displayed.

Figure 58-1: Creating a drop-down list in a cell is easy and doesn’t require macros.
The trick to setting up a drop-down list is to use the data validation feature. The following steps describe how to create a drop-down list of items in a cell:
1. Enter the list of items in a range.
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