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Searchable Drop Down List in Excel

You are here: Home / Excel / Searchable Drop Down List in Excel
Searchable Drop Down List in Excel
April 9, 2020 by Mynda Treacy

Creating this searchable drop down list in Excel is so easy I’m wondering why I never thought of it before. It doesn’t require any formulas or VBA and it has all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a searchable drop down list, including automatic sorting, ignoring duplicates and an option to select ‘All’:

Searchable Drop Down List in Excel

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Searchable Drop Down List in Excel Instructions

This technique couldn’t be simpler.

Step 1: Insert a PivotTable

Your searchable drop down list can be based on a single field (column) in a larger table, as in my example, or it could simply reference a single column of data. Note: Make sure your data has a header row.

Select your table, or a cell in the table > Insert tab > PivotTable. Choose where you want the PivotTable placed (this will be the cell that contains your searchable drop down list).

Step 2: Add Field to Filter Area

The fields available in the PivotTable field list are the column labels from your data. Drag the column/field you want your searchable drop down list based on into the Filter area of the PivotTable.

add field to filter area

Step 3: Format PivotTable Style (Optional)

By default, PivotTables have a blue colour format:

format pivottable style

However, you may prefer to set the style to something more subtle via the PivotTable Design tab:

set the style

Tip: You can create your own custom style with no formatting by right-clicking the second style > Duplicate:

In the Modify PivotTable Style dialog box that opens, you can clear the formatting as required:

Modify PivotTable Style dialog box

Step 4: Link a Formula

One use for this searchable drop down list is to reference it in a formula. In my example I used it with SUMIFS to build a table that I linked to a regular chart, which you can see below. Notice that it includes highlighting of the minimum and maximum and displays the average. All features not possible with a Pivot Chart.

link a formula

Limitations

Although I love this method for creating a searchable drop down list in Excel, it still comes with some limitations.

  1. It won’t ignore blanks in your dataset. It’ll show them as (blank) at the end of the list:
  2. Searchable Drop Down List in Excel limitations 1

  3. It’s not suited to using as a data validation list for data entry in a table because it requires two cells, one for the field name and one for the item (shown below in cells G5 and H5 respectively):
  4. Searchable Drop Down List in Excel limitations 2

  5. It requires a Refresh of the PivotTable for any new items to appear in the list. I personally don’t think this is a big deal because you can set the PivotTable to automatically refresh upon opening the file in the PivotTable Options available in the right-click menu:
  6. Searchable Drop Down List in Excel limitations 3a

Or right click the PivotTable > Refresh:

limitations 3b

Searchable Drop Down List in Excel
Mynda Treacy

Microsoft MVP logo

AUTHOR Mynda Treacy Co-Founder / Owner at My Online Training Hub

CIMA qualified Accountant with over 25 years experience in roles such as Global IT Financial Controller for investment banking firms Barclays Capital and NatWest Markets.

Mynda has been awarded Microsoft MVP status every year since 2014 for her expertise and contributions to educating people about Microsoft Excel.

Mynda teaches several courses here at MOTH including Excel Expert, Excel Dashboards, Power BI, Power Query and Power Pivot.

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Category: ExcelTag: Data Validation
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Nicole

    March 25, 2021 at 5:33 am

    I love this idea! The only trouble I am having is with formatting. Every time I select a new item on the list, the formatting changes. I need it to stay as wrapped text, size 14.5 Calibri font. Any ideas on how I can fix this?

    Reply
    • Mynda Treacy

      March 25, 2021 at 9:31 am

      Not sure why that would be. Maybe it’s a limitation of data validation lists.

      Reply
  2. iftikhar

    November 3, 2020 at 10:46 pm

    i loved it dear god bless you!

    Reply
  3. david

    May 15, 2020 at 3:42 am

    Please i need help. how can i make searchable drop down list work on a protected worksheet? when the sheet was not protected it worked perfectly but when i protected the sheet, the search function ceased. it was only functioning like a normal data validation drop down menu. The search function stopped working.
    please help.

    Reply
    • Mynda Treacy

      May 15, 2020 at 9:05 pm

      Hi David,

      Make sure you check the box “Use PivotTable & PivotChart” is checked in the Protect Sheet dialog box.

      Mynda

      Reply
  4. Chuck Trese

    April 23, 2020 at 12:56 am

    Excellent tip. I’ve used this same basic technique to create searchable Slicers. Very useful!! I don’t exactly remember, but i think i first got this idea from Jon at ExcelCampus.

    Reply
  5. Patrick Schommer

    April 10, 2020 at 2:07 am

    So many good little tips in here! I especially like the NA() function in the IF to plot the MIN & MAX series as a single point. I usually use a null string (“”) as a default value which looks good but causes other charting issues as you point out.

    Reply
    • Mynda Treacy

      April 10, 2020 at 9:58 am

      Great to know you discovered some tips you can use, Patrick!

      Reply
      • Will

        April 19, 2020 at 11:58 pm

        Great value!
        Thank-you for your very informative and educational YouTube Channel.

        Reply
        • Mynda Treacy

          April 20, 2020 at 12:14 pm

          My pleasure, Will 🙂

          Reply

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