Create dropdown lists in a cell with Google Sheets.
Create a dropdown list
- In Google Sheets, open a spreadsheet.
- Select the cell or cells where you want to create a dropdown list.
- Select an option:
- Enter “@.” In the Menu, under the components section, click “Dropdowns."
- Tip: You can also insert preset dropdowns for use cases such as "Project status" or "Priority."
- At the top, click Insert Dropdown.
- Click Data Data validation Add rule .
- Right click on a cell Dropdown.
- Enter “@.” In the Menu, under the components section, click “Dropdowns."
- On the Data validation rules panel, under "Criteria," select an option:
- Dropdown from a range: Choose the cells to include in the list.
- Dropdown: Enter the dropdown value.
- Click Add another item to add additional dropdown values.
- Optional: To allow multiple selections in your drop-down menus, select Allow multiple selections.
- Click Add another item to add additional dropdown values.
- Tip: Remove any leading/trailing whitespace in dropdown options to allow multiple dropdown selections.
- Optional: If you enter data in a cell that doesn’t match an item on the list, it is rejected. If you want people to be able to enter items not from the list:
- Click Advanced options.
- Under "If the data is invalid:," select Show a warning.
- Click Done.
Turn dropdown chip suggestions on or off
- In Google Sheets, open a spreadsheet.
- At the top, click Tools Suggestion controls Enable dropdown chip suggestions.
Create a dropdown list on cells with existing data
- In Google Sheets, open a spreadsheet.
- Select the cell or cells with existing data.
- Right-click Dropdown.
- If a selected cell includes an existing dropdown, other cell values are appended to the selected dropdown list rule.
- Dropdown options are created in the order of ranges that are selected. The order of options goes down columns first, then across rows.
- Optional: To add more dropdown values:
- Go to the Data validation rules panel.
- Under "Criteria," click Add another item.
- Optional: If you enter data in a cell that doesn’t match an item on the list, it is rejected. If you want people to be able to enter items not from the list:
- Click Advanced options.
- Under "If the data is invalid:," select Show a warning.
- Click Done.
Change or delete a dropdown list
Important: If you delete a value with an assigned color from the criteria source range when the dropdown is populated from a range, the value and color will still appear under criteria, but as uneditable. To remove the value from the list, change the source range or any other item’s color.
- In Google Sheets, open a spreadsheet.
- Select the cell or cells you want to change, then select an option:
- Click Data Data validation.
- Click the dropdown Edit button .
- Edit the dropdown list:
- To change the options listed, edit the items under "Criteria."
- To delete a list, select an option:
- Click Remove Rule.
- If cells are empty, select the cells. Then, press the Backspace key.
- If cells are empty, select the cells. Then, click Edit Delete Values.
- To change the display style: Click Advanced options. Then, under "Display Style," select either:
- Chip
- Arrow
- Plain text
- Click Done. If you change the content of the range you select, the changes are made in the list automatically.