{"id":5788,"date":"2021-05-20T08:46:13","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T08:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/?p=5788"},"modified":"2024-03-28T10:34:33","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T10:34:33","slug":"remove-dropdown-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/examples\/remove-dropdown-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Remove Dropdown List in Excel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

More times than I could think of in my life I have been asked a question from one of my business colleagues on how to remove or type something else in an Excel cell that has limited options- options being a range of cells, a list of options, or anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically, these \u201cproblematic\u201d cells are formed as a so-called dropdown list, so the problem can be easily solved by removing this list. We are going to show you how to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Create a Dropdown List<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To understand how to remove a Dropdown<\/strong> list<\/strong> in Excel, we first have to understand how to create one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s assume that we have a cell A1<\/strong> into which we type simply Name<\/strong>. In cell B1<\/strong> we want to limit our options for the name and to choose from Jessica, Hank, or Mark (a random list of names).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To do this, we have to type these names into the computer’s memory. For this example, we will type them into column K<\/strong> (into cells K1<\/strong>, K2<\/strong>, and K3<\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then we go to cell B1<\/strong>, and then into the Data tab<\/strong> located on our ribbon<\/a>. On the Data tab<\/a>, we can find Data Tools<\/strong>. The most popular data tool is Data Validation<\/strong><\/a>, which we need for this example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we select the dropdown list of Data Validation<\/strong> (picture below), we choose Data Validation<\/strong> again:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Data Validation<\/strong> is a feature in Excel used to control what a user can enter into a cell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we click on Data Validation<\/strong>, we will get a pop-up window as in the picture below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not to go into too much detail about the meaning of all the tabs, we will just say that there are several validation criteria in the Settings tab: any value, whole number, decimal, list, date, time, text length, and custom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This means that we can limit the possible input of our cell on anything we want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our example, the easiest way is to choose the option List<\/strong> and then to select our range (K1:K3<\/strong>), as in the picture below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To make our example more neatly, we can hide column<\/a> K<\/strong>, which stores our data for Data Validation<\/strong>. To do this, we just have to select the column, right-click on it and then choose the second to last option, which is Hide<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We can notice that our cell B1<\/strong> now has a dropdown menu of our range to choose from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We can either choose or type these options into cell B1<\/strong>. If the user tries to enter anything other than these options, a generic warning message will appear:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We can either choose Retry<\/strong> to try again or Cancel<\/strong> to move from this cell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remove Dropdown List in Excel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once you know how to create a dropdown list<\/a> in Excel, it is not so hard to learn how to remove it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dropdown lists<\/strong> usually have a downward arrow in the cell that contains them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step when removing the dropdown list is to select the cell with the dropdown list. If you have multiple cells<\/a> with dropdown lists that you want to delete, you can use the Ctrl+Left click<\/strong> to select them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then you go to the Data Tab<\/strong>– Data<\/strong>– Data Validation<\/strong>. On the Settings tab<\/strong> (where we defined our values above) you just click on Clear All<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More times than I could think of in my life I have been asked a question from one of my business colleagues on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[190],"yoast_head":"\nRemove Dropdown List in Excel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to remove a Dropdown list in Excel by creating one first. Follow the Data Validation tool on the Data tab to control cell input.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/officetuts.net\/excel\/examples\/remove-dropdown-list\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Remove Dropdown List in Excel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn how to remove a Dropdown list in Excel by creating one first. 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