Forum Discussion

Copper Contributor

Sep 17, 2019

Drop down box indicator help for novice

I am making some drop down boxes but the drop down box arrow is not there when I click on another box in the Excel sheet. How do I make it show all the time so people know there is a drop down box the...

excel

Subodh_Tiwari_sktneer

Silver Contributor

Sep 17, 2019

Workinprogress

That is how a dropdown (data validation list) works. The dropdown arrow will only appear when the cell with dropdown is selected. To help the user to know that the cells have a dropdown in them, you may format those cells to have a visual clue for dropdowns.

It you have inserted the dropdown lists in few cells only and want the dropdown arrow to appear all the time, you may consider inserting the ComboBox from the Form Controls and specify the Input Range and the Linked Cells.

Workinprogress

Copper Contributor

Sep 17, 2019

Thank you Subodh for your reply. Where do I find the combo box in form controls? Sorry.... really novice to using drop downs.

Subodh_Tiwari_sktneer
Silver Contributor
Sep 17, 2019
Workinprogress
They can be inserted through Developer Tab and if you don't have Developer Tab on the ribbon, https://support.office.com/en-us/article/show-the-developer-tab-e1192344-5e56-4d45-931b-e5fd9bea2d45.

And this is how you may https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OtHMdTCeoQ on the Sheet and set it's properties.
- Workinprogress
  Copper Contributor
  Sep 17, 2019
  Thanks! That helped.
  - Subodh_Tiwari_sktneer
    Silver Contributor
    Sep 17, 2019
    Workinprogress
    You're welcome!
    Please don't forget to choose the post which helped you to resolve your question as a Best Answer/Response to mark your question as Solved.