In the “Source” box, enter the items for your drop-down list, separated by commas, or select a range of cells that contain the items. Click “OK” to create your drop-down list.

Microsoft Excel can save you time in lots of little ways, like adding a drop-down list to cells so that only pre-written text can be entered.

Learn how to create a drop-down list in Excel without or with color using conditional formatting and data validation rules.

Learn how to create a drop-down list using Data Validation in Excel. Data Validation limits the type of data that can be entered into a cell.

You can access an Excel workbook here and an accompanying video at the end of this article for creating a drop-down list. To create a drop-down list, start by writing out the items that will be in it.

Inserting Drop-Down Lists with Data Validation Once you have created named ranges for your lists, the next step is to insert the drop-down lists using Excel’s data validation feature.