Data validation drop-down lists in Excel adopt the same order as the source. In this example, to order the nations alphabetically, you would need to sort the source data by column B.

Data Validation in Microsoft Excel allows users to control the type of data entered into the worksheet. It picks from a list of rules to limit the type of data that can be entered into a cell.

An Excel sheet with the Data Validation icon selected. 'List' is selected in the Allow field, and cells A5 to A236 are selected in the Source field.

There’s no built-in duplicate rule for Excel’s Data Validation feature, but you can combine the feature with the COUNTIF () function to get the job done. To do so competently, you need to know ...

Go to Data on the Ribbon, and in the Data Tools group, choose Data Validation. The Data Validation window that pops up allows you to set your criteria in many ways. For our example, choose Whole ...

Figure A We’ll add a data validation control to this sheet. Click the Data tab, and then, click Data Validation in the Data Tools group. In the resulting dialog, choose List from the Allow dropdown.

You can easily create a drop-down list in Excel to limit the values that can be entered in a column. This data validation helps prevent mistakes, such as misspellings.