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Easily Create and Edit a Google Sheet Drop Down List in 2023

Watch the video – Create a drop-down list for Google Sheets

Google Sheets has some useful features to help you be more efficient when entering data

Reading: How to create a drop down list in google excel

A Google Sheet dropdown list is one such feature that allows you to quickly select from a pre-populated list. It creates a collection of data in a cell that Google Sheets can select from the list. This way you don’t have to type the text manually – just select it from a drop-down list.

Drop-down lists can be used during data entry when you want the user to select from predefined options only. This also ensures that there are no errors (e.g. misspelled words).

The process for adding dropdown lists in Google Sheets has changed for a long time. But don’t worry, in this tutorial you will learn how to add a dropdown option in Google Sheets using data validation.

How to use dropdown lists in Google Sheets

Dropdown menus are quite a handy and fun tool in Google Sheets.

You can also use dropdown lists in Google Sheets to create interactive charts, To-do lists and dashboards.

For example, you can create a drop-down menu with a to-do list where the user can select from options, e.g. a completed task or an ongoing task , or just beginning.

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Another (advanced) use of the drop-down list can be to extract data for the selected item. Let’s say you have a list of students and their grades in five subjects.

You can use the drop-down menu to select the student’s name and use the formulas to automatically extract that student’s grade details .

You will also learn how to copy and paste drop-down lists from one cell to other cells. You can also easily remove all dropdowns from all cells at once.

Example of a drop-down list in Google Sheets

Whether you create a budget for your monthly expenses or the Calculating the grades of each student in the class, a dropdown list can be a useful and quick way to do this.

The advantage of a dropdown list is that it’s fairly simple and gives instant results.

It also ensures that your data entry is error free as you allow a user to select from a drop down list instead of entering the data manually (which may result in misspelled words or wrong format) .

How to create a Google Sheets drop-down list

In this tutorial, I will show you how to create and edit them nd use dropdown lists in Google Sheets.

How to add a dropdown list in Google Sheets with a ranked e of cells

You can create a dropdown list in Google Sheets using a dataset that already exists in a row of cells.

Suppose you have a dataset like the one shown below and you want a dropdown -Create a list in cell C2 (You can also create these dropdown lists in multiple cells at once).

Below are the steps to create a dropdown list in Google Sheets:

  1. Select the cell or range of cells where you want to create a drop-down list
  2. Click Data option in the menu
    Click From the menu, click Data

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  • Click the Data Validation.
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Select data validation

  1. A window with data validation rules will appear on the rig ht of the sheet. Click Add Rule
A data validation rule window will appear on the right of the sheet. Click Add Rule

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  1. In the Criteria option, select – “Dropdown (from range)
<img src="https://cdn.spreadsheetpoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Click-the-box- in-the-filled-below- criteria.-The-option-to-select-data-range-will-pop-up.png" alt="In the criteria option, select the –
  • You will see a chip in the cell with a down arrow showing the drop down list when you click it.
  • Select the data range of data to display in your Google Sheets dropdown menu. Click on OK.

    You can find the Show validation help text in the advanced options, which have now been changed to Show help text for a selected cell. Now you have the drop down lists in the selected cell. You can click on the drop down icon (small arrow pointing down) and it will show you all the options to choose from. And once you make a selection, that value is added to the cell.

    How to add a dropdown list in Google Sheets by manually specifying the items

    In case you don’t have the list of items in a range in the worksheet and want to specify them manually instead, you can do that too.

    This might be the case if you want to have options like Yes/ No or Good/Ok/Bad as items in the drop-down list. Instead of having them somewhere in the sheet, you can just specify them when creating the dropdown.

    Inserting dropdowns in Google Sheets

    Below see the steps to create a dropdown list by manually setting the options:

    1. Select the cell (or range of cells) where you want the dropdown list
    2. From the menu, click Data
    3. In the Data Validation window, click Add Rule. The dropdown menu will be added automatically.
    Select from drop-down list
    1. Under criteria you will see two fields labeled Option 1 and Option 2. Fill in the fields with the desired values ​​from the drop-down list.
    In the data validation window, click Add Rule. The drop-down menu will be added automatically.

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    1. Click Add another item to add more options.
    2. When you’re done, click Done.
    Below the criteria you will see two fields labeled Option 1 and Option 2. Fill in the fields with the desired values ​​in your drop-down list.

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    Now when you click the dropdown icon in the cell, you’ll see the options you manually added to the dropdown.

    When you're done, click Done.

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    Add a dropdown list in Google Sheets by copying another dropdown list

    After adding a dropdown to a Google Sheet, you can easily copy the dropdown list and paste from one cell to another.

    All you have to do is select the cells where you already have the drop down menu, copy the cell (Control C) and paste it then in the cells/range where you want them.

    Once you do this, the drop-down lists are inside of the cell is available in the copied cells as well.

    If you only want to copy the drop-down list from a cell and not the formatting (eg. color, border, or number format), do the following:

    1. Select the cell you want to copy the drop-down list from
    2. Copy the cell (Control C)
    3. Right-click on the cells where you want to create the drop-down menu
    4. Hover over the Paste Special option .
    Now if you click on the drop-down icon in the cell, will show the options you manually added to the dropdown.

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    1. Click on the ‘Insert data validation only‘ option.

    The drop The drop-down menu is copied to the new cell.

    How to change or remove a drop-down menu in Google Sheets

    If you have a drop-down down list (or data validation rule) in a cell and want to remove or edit it, you can easily do that.

    Following are the steps to remove the drop-down list from a cell or range of cells:

    1. Select the cells you want to remove the drop-down list from
    2. From the menu, click the Data
    3. Click on Data Validation option. This will open the data validation window on the right.
    4. In the Data Validation dialog box, click on the rule you want to remove. Make sure the correct cell is selected. If you want, you can also change the cells in the dialog box.
    5. Click the Remove Rule option.
    Right-click the cells you want to switch over create the drop-down menu. Hover over the Paste Special option.

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    1. Click Done.

    You can also remove the dropdown menu , by clicking the trash can icon next to the rule in the data validation window, or click Remove All if you want to remove all rules.

    Click the Remove Rule option.

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    If you want to edit and change the drop-down menu (e.g. add more items or reference another space as source), you can do it with the same steps. Just make the changes and click the Save button.

    To extend the list to multiple cells

    You can click the drop-down menu multiple cells expand in different ways. The easiest way is to drag the small box in the lower right corner of the cell to the area you want to expand.

    You can also expand using the Paste Special method as shown above. This copies the drop-down list to the cells where you want to paste the drop-down list in Google Sheets.

    How to edit the drop-down list

    If you want to edit the dropdown list, you can use the dropdown validation window. It stays open to the right of the leaf unless you close it. In this case you can open it again from the data menu.

    All you have to do is click on the rule for the dropdown menu you want to edit. From there you can make any necessary changes you want to make. You can also go to edit by clicking the dropdown and the pencil icon at the very bottom.

    A single selection from the drop-down list

    You can add or remove items from your list, or change the names of the items. You can also add colors to your options in the drop-down list.

    You can also copy the cell into the cells you want to expand using the Paste Special Items method shown above:

    In the advanced options you have more options including:

    • Show validation help text
    • If the data is invalid – This has two options for you maybe some invalid data in your space: show a warning or refuse input
    • Display Style – Allows you to change the display type for the drop-down list. There is chip style, arrow style and plain text style. However, if you select plain text, the drop-down menu disappears.
    Edit dropdown list manually

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What happens when you insert data that weren’t in the drop-down list?

    Depending on the options you selected when creating the drop-down list, two things can happen. If you select Reject input, the data will not remain in the cell. If you select Show warning, a small red triangle will appear in the cell to indicate that there is invalid data.

    How can I sort a dropdown list alphabetically in google spreadsheets? / How do I sort a dropdown list?

    All you need to do to alphabetize or sort a dropdown list in Google Sheets is the or column sort the area that contains the validation data Es. To do this:

    1. Select the range you want to sort (the source data for the drop-down menu)
    2. Navigate to Data

      Here are the steps you can follow to achieve this:

      1. Select your drop down list(s)
      2. Select From the Format menu, choose Conditional Formatting.
      3. In the conditional formatting sidebar that appears, set your formatting rules.

      In our case, you can use two formatting rules. For the first rule, select “Text is exact” from the drop-down menu under “Format cells if…” and enter “Yes”. Choose a fill color, e.g. B. Red, from the formatting style options. Click “Add another rule” and repeat the process to specify green color formatting if the text is exactly “No”.

      This is a great way to color code your dropdown menu . However, Google Sheets has also added a color-coding option in the data validation window in the new update. How to use it, we have already shown you in the article. How it works:

      1. Go to the data validation window and click on the rule. You can also go to the dropdown menu and click Edit.
      2. Click the circle next to the options for your list
      Advanced Options

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      1. Choose the color you want for this option. You can see how it will look in the preview below in the color option. You can select the available colors or customize your own colors.
      Adding Colors

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      1. When you’re done selecting all the colors, click Done.
      Pick a color

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      Your drop-down menu will now also be color-coded.

      Colors associated with drop-down list options

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      Note: If you have options for numeric values ​​in your Google Sheets drop-down list, you can set them using the Color Scale tab in the Conditional formatting sidebar far Mark as usual. p>

      Summary

      As you have seen, adding a dropdown list in Google Sheets is not a complex process. Although the system may have changed from previous years, the premise still remains the same. Now that you know how to add a Google Sheets dropdown, you can check out our other article on multi-select dropdowns in Google Sheets.

      You might also be interested in these following Google Sheets tutorials :

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        1. How to autofill numbers in Google Sheets
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