How to create a drop-down list and be able to select more than one entry.

Silver Contributor

Jul 31, 2026

I know the OP is 2 years old but I just had a thought about an interesting solution. Basically I made the drop down do a sequential multi-selection:

as shown in the image column A is the original list (nList), column B is the dynamic list used for the drop down data validation list (nDropDown), and cell D3 is the cell with the drop down (nSelection). And as you can see in D3 the current selection is both SPR and Enhancement and the drop down gives the option to append New or Bug to the current selection. The 'magic' is in the formula used in B3:

=IF(OR(nSelection="",nSelection="CLEAR SELECTION"),
       nList,
       VSTACK("CLEAR SELECTION",
                     nSelection & ", " & FILTER(nList,NOT(ISNUMBER(SEARCH(nList,nSelection)))))
        )

so basically after you make a selection the drop down list appends unselected options to the current selection.

I also add a "CLEAR SELECTION" option or just delete the cell and start over

So it isn't a true multi-select but it might be useful in some cases...

as for Velvetmorris recent comment, I don't know what you mean with your question. Which item are you referring to when you say "this"? mathetes solution? HansVogelaar solution? or the additional question about "keeping a record"?

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How to create a drop-down list and be able to select more than one entry.