How To Create a Dropdown in Google Sheets

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a dropdown in Google Sheets. We share Google Sheets with students and colleagues from time to time, and we don’t want them to type in their answers. Sometimes you want to give people the option of clicking on a small drop-down menu to get different options instead of typing something into a cell so that you can keep track of their choices.

Google Sheets offers a straightforward solution for this. Stay tuned until the end of the article to learn how to do this in manageable steps.

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Table of Contents

Why Use Drop Down Lists in Google Sheets?

Using drop-down lists in Google Sheets has lasting advantages. You can save a significant amount of time and hassle by creating drop-down lists for multiple cells in Google sheets. With drop-down lists, you can ask the user to select from a list of predefined options.

This becomes handy when there is large-scale data entry work to do. You don’t need to enter the same data again and again. You can select it from the drop-down list. Another use case is when there is the same set of entries for each cell. In place of entering data, you can create a drop-down list for the user to select from the range of options for the specified cell.

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Adding a Drop-down Menu List to Google Sheet

Select the cell where you want to add the drop-down list.
In the menu bar, go to Data> Data Validation.
From the drop-down menu, choose the criteria. Among many options, the two prominent ones are a List of items and a List from a range.

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List from items: The “List of items” option is the simplest. Enter the values, separated by commas, in the order you want them to appear in your list.

List from a range: Because typing a long list of items is inconvenient and error-prone, this is the recommended criteria option if you have more than a handful of items.

You have the option of entering the range as a formula. Alternatively, you can click the grid in the input box to open a second popup to select the range with your mouse.
Make sure the “Show dropdown list in cell” checkbox is selected.
Other options, such as “showing warning” and “reject input,” can be used by simply checking the boxes that deal with invalid data entry.
Click Save after making the desired changes.

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Editing the Data in the Drop-down List in Google Sheets

Select the cell or cells with the data validation setting you wish to change.
Go to Data> Data Validation.
Edit the List Of Items in the text box to the right of the Criteria field in a web browser.
Edit the text as needed to add or remove items, and remember to separate each item with a comma.
When you’re finished making changes, click Save to apply them to your chosen cells.

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Adjusting the Range in Google Sheets

Select the cell (or cells) containing the data validation setting you want to modify.
Navigate to Data > Data Validation in a web browser.
In the Range field, change the range to indicate the sheet and cells that contain the drop-down list options you want.
Tap Save to keep your adjusted range.

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Deleting a Drop-down List in Google Sheets

Select the cell where you want to add the drop-down list.
Go to Data> Data Validation.
Click on the Remove Validation button.

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Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)

Is It Possible To Copy the Drop-down List to Another Cell?

The answer is YES, you can. You need to use copy and paste hotkeys[ctrl+C and ctrl+V] to copy the drop-down list to another cell. This method will let you copy the formatting as well.

What Should I Do if an Error #N/a Appears on a Cell?

First and foremost, do not be worried. A simple error message appears when no division is selected from the drop-down menus. Once we occupy the remaining division drop-downs, the errors will vanish.

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Can I Select Multiple Options in a Drop-down Google Sheets?

In dropdown lists, selecting multiple options is very useful. In general, Google Sheets does not support this functionality. Each user will be limited to one option.

Wrapping Up

So this is all about making a drop-down menu in Google Sheet. This feature is handy if you want to control the responses you expect. If you enjoyed the article, please spread the word.

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Ojasv Jain

In the world of tech since 2015. I started writing about it in 2019. I have also expertise in food reviews, photography and travel blogs.