| Have you ever been in a situation where you were | | | | text box simply type in the name Title and press the |
| building a template in Microsoft Excel 2003 and it | | | | OK button. What you have now done is to simply |
| would have been really useful to actually have a drop | | | | create a named range which you can work with. |
| down box so that your users could choose from a | | | | Now, return to the first worksheet. We now have to |
| preset list, rather than them simply typing in their | | | | go to cell A2 and define the drop down box. Click on |
| own values? Well the cool part is that Microsoft Excel | | | | cell A2 and then choose the Data menu. From the |
| 2003 allows you to build your own drop down boxes | | | | drop down menu choose Validation. This will open the |
| in the application and in this article we will show you | | | | Data Validation dialog box. |
| exactly how to do this. | | | | In the Allow drop down list, choose the List option. |
| The first step in the process of us create a drop | | | | The next step is to define the name Title as the |
| down box is to first create a new workbook. So, | | | | range. You can achieve this by typing in the following |
| open Microsoft Excel 2003 and create your new | | | | in the Source text box – |
| workbook. On the first work sheet add the following | | | | = Title |
| headings – | | | | To complete the process, simply press the OK |
| Cell A1 – Title | | | | button. |
| Cell B1 – First Name | | | | Return to the cell A2 and you will now see a drop |
| Cell C1 – Last Name | | | | down box. If you click on the arrow you will see the |
| Now click on the second worksheet in your | | | | results from your second sheet. |
| workbook. The name of the worksheet should be | | | | One of the problems you will notice is that the values |
| called Sheet2. In cell A1 type the word Title and then | | | | in the drop down box are not in alphabetic order. To |
| in the following cells – | | | | get them into the appropriate order simply go to |
| Cell A2 – Mr | | | | Sheet 2 of your workbook and choose the range A1 |
| Cell A3 – Miss | | | | to A5. Select the Data menu and then in the Sort |
| Cell A4 – Mrs | | | | dialog box make sure you click once on the option |
| Cell A5 – Ms | | | | button – Header Row. Now press the OK button. |
| What we now need to do is to select the cell range | | | | If you return to Sheet1 you will now find that the |
| A2 to A5. We are then going to give this range of | | | | Title drop down box is in alphabetical order. |
| cell addresses a name. To do this simply select the | | | | Drop down lists can be used for virtually an Microsoft |
| Insert menu and then choose the Name option from | | | | Excel template. Remember one thing though, if you |
| the drop down menu and choose Define. The Define | | | | do not want your range for your list to be on the |
| dialog box will open and in the Names in Workbook | | | | same worksheet, then you must name the range. |