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stevc999
Feb 25, 2025Copper Contributor
Named Range Cannot Be found (even though it exists)
Hi,
I am trying to build conditional dropdowns where a selection in the first column drives the values in the dropdown of the second. I have several columns of data and have given each a name
I have created the first dropdown based on Division range and it works great
However when I try to create a conditional list using Indirect I get the error - 'A named range you specified cannot be found)
The Cell clearly says 'Education' and there is a Named Range called 'Education' as seen in the first screenshot, so no idea why I'm getting that error.
If anyone can help I'd be eternally grateful and I have no idea what to try next and I've wasted ages trying to make this work
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- PGSystemTesterCopper Contributor
Indirect has to have quotes around the desired range to be referenced, so that's probably your main issue.
Additionally, I've had some issues with conditional validation where i think you can only reference a range, not a calculated range -- but spill ranges are okay. Again, I am not 100% I've understood the limitation, but since spill range has always worked for me, that's been my route for such things. I've attached a sample file (no vba) where cell G4 has a country selection (Germany/USA) and the cell below G5 has data validation that's driven off of the above cell showing only cities within the country of choice.
Steps to create- Create list of US cities from B1:B3 of Boston, Atlanta, Dallas
- Create German cities in C1:C2 of Munich, Berlin
- In cell A1 enter this formula: =if(G4="USA",B1:B3,C1:C2)
- Create a named range of listValidation that is =Sheet1!$A$1# (important to note the hashtag)
- For you data validation rule in G5 set the validation rule for List =indirect("listValidation")
Further ideas are that you could have cell A1 be more dynamic, filtering all of columns b and c based on values not being blank. Best choice would probably be a single table column.
- stevc999Copper Contributor
I have resolved it - it was because I had R1C1 references switched on
- stevc999Copper Contributor
Sadly that doesn't work...
- m_tarlerBronze Contributor
Make it an absolute reference $D$4
=Indirect($D$4)
- stevc999Copper Contributor
Sadly that doesn't work