Google Sheets offers numerous options to organize and systematically arrange data. It comes up with novel innovations that add to the convenience of the user. The feature of adding dropdowns in a Google Sheet is one such novel feature that let the creator of the sheet have control over the outcome. The dropdowns are simply the options given along with any particular or a set of cells, from which the user can click the most suitable one. It is mostly used as part of enterprises, surveys, to-do lists, etc.
Dropdowns are an effective way to keep the document error-free too. As the possible outcomes are already entered into the sheet and as it is just a matter of choice now, there are no chances for the user or users to cause any spelling mistakes or related errors.
The dropdowns are added to the Google Sheets by a feature or tool called Data Validation. It let the creator manually enter the necessary outcomes for the cell or set of cells. It is also possible to copy the validation of a cell to other cells. The removal of the validation feature is also quite simple.
How to add dropdown in Google Sheets?
Step 1. Open the Google Sheets application on the device.
Step 2. Open the sheet which has to be included with dropdowns.
Step 3. Right-click on the cell or cells that you want to include dropdowns. And from the drop-down list, click on the View More Cell Actions option.
Step 4. From the options, click on the Data Validation option.
Step 5. A small window appears where the user can customize the dropdowns.
Step 6. Click on the Criteria section to reveal more options.
Step 7. Choose the option called List of items.
Step 8. Enter the items in the provided slot. Make sure that you are separating the items with a comma, not a space.
Step 9. Disable or enable the option to show the dropdown list in the cell, according to the liking of the user.
Step 10. Click on the Save option once the customization is done.
Step 11. Now the chosen cell can be seen sporting a dropdown icon. Click on the icon to reveal the options to choose from.
The Data Validation option is available through the top menu bar also.
Click on the Data option on the top menu bar.
From the options that appear, click on the Data Validation option.
The rest of the process is the same.
How to add dropdown in Google Sheets through copy-paste?
One of the convenient ways to add a drop-down list to a cell in Google Sheets is to copy it from another one.
Step 1. Open the Google Sheets application on the device.
Step 2. Choose and open the sheet which contains a suitable drop-down list already. Or else, it can be the same sheet in which one of the cells contains a drop-down list whereas the others don’t.
Step 3. Right-click on the cell which contains the drop-down list and clicks on the Copy option.
Step 4. Right-click on the cell to which the dropdown list has to be added and from the options that appear, choose Paste.
If the user only wants the list, but not the format, font, or color of the copied cell, from the options that appear after right-clicking the target cell, click on the Paste Special option.
From the options that appear, click on the Data Validation Only option.
Step 5. The dropdown menu will now appear on the target cell or cells.
How to edit or remove the dropdowns in Google Sheets?
Removing or editing the dropdown lists in a Google Sheet is also carried out by the Data Validation option.
Step 1. Open the Google Sheets application on the device and choose the sheet in which the editing or removal has to be carried out.
Step 2. Right-click on the cell or set of cells that have to be removed from the dropdown list. From the drop-down menu that appears, click on the View More Cell Actions option.
Step 3. From the options that appear, click on the Data Validation option.
Step 4. A new window appears with customization options for the validation feature.
Step 5. Click on the Remove Validation option present at the bottom of the window.
Step 6. The validation can be seen to be immediately removed from the chosen cell.
