Microsoft Office Excel® 2007 Data Analysis: Your Visual Blueprint™ for Creating and Analyzing Data, Charts, and PivotTables

Chapter 11. SHARING YOUR WORKBOOK WITH OTHERS

Validate with a Validation List

With Excel, you can restrict the values a user can enter in a cell. By restricting values, you help ensure that all worksheet entries are valid and that calculations based on them are valid as well. During data entry, a validation list forces anyone using your worksheet to select a value from a drop-down menu rather than typing it and potentially entering the wrong information. In this way, validation lists save time and reduce errors.

You can use two methods to create a data validation list. Both methods use the Data Validation dialog box. If your list is short and does not change, you can type it into the Source field of the Data Validation dialog box. For example, if ...