Excel: Creating a dropdown menu - how to do it

In Excel, you can create a dropdown menu to make typing easier for yourself. The insertion of a dropdown menu in an Excel spreadsheet is thereby possible via the developer tools. How to activate them and then create a list for your dropdown menu, you will learn here.

Create dropdown menu: How to enable developer tools beforehand

To make it easier to select different options, it makes sense to use a dropdown menu. However, to use the feature already included in Excel, you need to activate the developer tools. If you have not done so yet, please click on the "File" tab at the top of the menu bar and select the "Options" there. Then click on "Customize ribbon" in the Excel options and check the box next to the "Developer tools" entry. As soon as you have confirmed your changes with "OK", the developer tools will be available.

With these steps you can create a dropdown menu in Excel

Once you have activated the developer tools, you can start creating a dropdown menu. To do this, first switch to the "Developer Tools" tab.

1. Then click "Insert" in the "Controls" area and select the second icon in the "Controls" section at the top left.
2. Now move the mouse to the location in the Excel spreadsheet where the dropdown menu is to be inserted and draw it in.
3. To add entries to your dropdown menu afterwards, please click it with the right mouse button and select "Format control".
4. Thereupon a new window opens, in which you can specify the values of the dropdown menu by clicking on "Input range".
5. Confirm your selection with the "Enter" key and finally click "OK".