Or you can include a few blank cells in your formulas as demonstrated in this example. To have the new entries included in the drop-down list automatically, format your source data as an Excel table.That's it! Your Excel dependent dropdown list is ready for use.
But this time, reference the spill range returned by the FILTER function: =$H$3# To create the second dropdown list, configure the data validation criteria exactly as you did for the first drop down at step 2. To make sure the formula works correctly, you can select some value in the first drop-down list and observe the results returned by FILTER. Where B3:B15 are the source data for your dependent drop down, A3:A15 are the source data for your main dropdown, and D3 is the main dropdown cell. This can be done with the help of another dynamic array function called FILTER: To get entries for the secondary dropdown menu, we'll filter the values in column B based on the value selected in the first dropdown. Get items for the dependent drop down list This is called a spill range reference, and this syntax refers to the entire range regardless of how much it expands or contracts.ģ. For this, type the hash tag right after the cell reference, like this: =$G$3# In the Source box, enter the reference to the spill range output by the UNIQUE formula.In the Data Validation dialog box, do the following:.On the Data tab, in the Data Tools group, click Data Validation.Select a cell in which you want the dropdown to appear (D3 in our case).To make your primary drop-down list, configure an Excel Data Validation rule in this way: The formula goes to G3, and after pressing the Enter key the results spill into the next cells automatically. This can be done by using the UNIQUE function in its simplest form - supply the fruit list for the first argument ( array) and omit the remaining optional arguments as their defaults work just fine for us: To create a dynamic dependent drop down list in Excel, carry out these steps:įor starters, we shall extract all different fruit names from column A. The goal is to put the unique fruit names in the first drop-down and depending on the user's selection show the relevant exporters in the second drop-down. An additional complication is that the fruit names are not grouped but scattered across the column. Supposing you have a list of fruit in column A and exporters in column B.
This example demonstrates the general approach to creating a cascading drop down list in Excel by using the new dynamic array functions.
#Create a dropdown list in excel for mac how to
How to make dynamic drop down list in Excel If you want to copy your picklists down multiple rows, then follow the instructions in Dependent drop-down list for multiple rows. In pre-dynamic Excel, you will have to do it the long old-fashioned way as described in Creating a dependent drop down in Excel 2019, 2016 and earlier.