A common use of data validation is to create a drop-down list. Use it to restrict the type of data that users enter into an Excel cell.

Figure A We’ll add a data validation control to this sheet. Click the Data tab, and then, click Data Validation in the Data Tools group. In the resulting dialog, choose List from the Allow dropdown.

How to base a data validation dropdown on an array in Excel Now we’re ready to create the data validation dropdown that will display the unique list in column H.

To create a drop-down list in Excel, you will use the Data Validation feature. This feature enables you to set specific criteria for the data that can be entered into a cell.

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