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Creating a conditional drop down menu in Excel


I want to create a second drop down Select part that is conditional based on the part that matches the device. See the data sheet below.


The idea is that if the user selects from the Select device drop down something like Computer the only options available under Select part will be Ram and CPU.


I am using the Excel data validation -> validation criteria -> list function to do this.


The data sheet is text only.


From Data sheet the heading _Device[1]_ is for the first drop down and the headings _Part_ and _Device[2]_ are the matrix ready for the second drop down.


The key requirements are that the drop down sheet has only two drop downs, devices and parts, and the data sheet has only text and nothing else.


Drop down sheet


_Select_        _Drop down_

Select device   
Select part

Data sheet


_Device[1]_     _Part_     _Device[2]_

Computer     Ram        Computer
Car          CPU        Computer
Fridge       Window     Car
             Seat       Car
             Door       Fridge
             Holder     Fridge

Answer



What you are after is called dependent data validation. Debra Dalgleish has a tutorial about that.


Tbe idea is that you have a list of sub-items for each major item and you assign range names to the list of sub-items that correspond to the name of the major item. Then you can use Indirect() with the major item name to produce the list of sub-items in the data validation list.


You may need to re-arrange your data layout for this approach.


If you don't want or can't do that, there is another option with dynamic range names, but it requires that the data is sorted ascending by the column you call "Device[2]". If you want to look at that, post a comment and I'll explain.


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