Quickly Create Multiple Dependent Drop-Down Lists in Microsoft Excel

In this video tutorial, I will show you how to create multiple dependent drop-down lists in Microsoft Excel. Using data validation and the INDIRECT function in Microsoft Excel allows you to create drop-down lists from named ranges. This makes a simple and quick way to make a dependent drop-down list but it’s not without limitations. I will go over these issues and explain why you may not want to use this method for dependent drop-down lists.

[shauryajain]

For this specific data i used the index function (which i learned from one of your videos recently) for the amount column, saved me the hassle of clicking the amount for each individual item. Great tutorial ! Thanks !

[squarepegpete]

I haven't done this in a while, and I looked at a LOT of videos today. Yours was the clearest. Thanks for making a great video!

[runningfun]

The best example and clear guideline, I looked at many this is the only one that worked. Thanks you made my day .

[ageffner]

I was "way" over thinking the complexity of how to do this using validation tables, and didn't like the approach chatgpt recommended, nor another author who also had a very complex approach. Your approach has to be the simplest I've seen. So succinct and on point. Thank you!

[MsSlySpy]

Thank you! I watched a number of videos on this subject but most were way too complicated. So glad to find your video with your clear explanation and simple approach to this valuable feature.

[someguy]

About time somebody made a simple vid on this subject (in what should be something simple to do). Cheers.

[alfiedj]

Brilliant work. Simple to understand. Thank you sir!

[agpsimoes]

Hello Jamie,
Thank you for your video. Very helpful.
Do you have a video explaining how to do 5 levels of dependent drop-down lists using function tables?
Best regards!

[ryannorris]

Excellent tutorial. Thank you for providing additional context as to how these ranges are setup and where to verify that they are correctly entered. I've set this functionality up before, but was blindly following steps without really understanding what Excel was doing - which made it impossible to debug when something stopped working correctly.

[anjaliparhe]

Thank you so much for this detailed explanation.. it's very useful..

[ethanallenhawley]

Heads up, if your data is in a format where you want to filter column B by column A you can use Unique(Filter()). The formula to make B dependent on what was selected in column A is Unique(Filter(A:B, A=[drop down cell for column A])). Create the drop down for column B based off the output of this function. This method can be extended across as many drop downs as you need. For column C, use Unique(Filter(B:C, C=[drop down cell from column B])). Create the drop down for column C based off the output of this function.

[xaquison]

Easy and powerful solution. Great video which is easy to follow.

[MRO-Management]

awesome explanation, saved me, been a struggle I have been facing for a long time

[kamaltohme]

This was extremely helpful, thank you

[ekkiwurm]

Excellent video. Well explained and very, very useful. I tried it out and it works also perfectly with VBA. Thank you for sharing.

[MohamedRagab-udct]

this the most helpful explanation in the topic I have seen, thanks a lot.

[nermeenahmed]

Thank you I was able to follow and do it!

[stephenhammond]

Experienced the problem with spaces in names (should have watched the whole video first). Used United States and found when I names the range it named it United_States. Solved by renaming all cities/countries to include the underscore where appropriate. Looks a bit weird but works. I also created multiple drop-down lists using the OFFSET/MATCH formulas which doesn't use named ranges and so doesn't have this issue, although it's a bit more complicated to set up.

[hajirass]

Thank you so much sir for this video 😀👏

[roberttaylor]

The easiest option i have found. Searchable is nice, getting rid of the blanks at the bottom of my lists would be nice...but neither is that big a deal. Simple to do= good!