How to Create a Dropdown Menu in Google Sheets
Google has recently made it really easy to create a drop-down menu in Google Sheets with no formulas needed. The dropdown menu allows you to create and customize a list of items you can select/choose from.
In this post, I’m going to show you how to quickly add a dropdown menu in Google Sheets.
Adding a dropdown menu on Google Sheets
There are two ways to insert a drop-down menu in Google Sheets. You can either do this:
#1
- Select the cell you want to create the dropdown menu.
- Type
@dropdowns
and hit Enter.
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#2
Or, you can add it from the Google Sheets menu.
- Select the cell to create the dropdown.
- Select Insert > Dropdown from the top menu.
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Insert values in Dropdown menu
To enter your own value, make sure “Dropdown” is selected in Criteria, and not “Dropdown (from a range)“.
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You can drag-drop to rearrange your items or even change the colors of each item.
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Dropdown Menu’s Advance Options
There are a few more things you can do to customize your dropdown menu further.
Change the display style
You can change the menu’s display style. There are currently 3 options to choose from, respectively, Chips (default), Arrow, and Plain text.
Chips
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Arrow
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Plain text
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Display custom error message
Look under “if the data is invalid” – if “Show a warning” is checked, a tiny red mark (top-right corner) will be displayed in the cell when the user input is not within the provided options.
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And if “Reject the input” is checked, it will reject the entered item entirely.
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Finally, you can also create a custom message for the input error. To do this, check “Show help text for a selected cell” and enter your message.
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