How to use dropdown lists in Google Sheets
Creating dropdown lists in Google Sheets can help you better sort and prioritize items. Here's a step-by-step guide.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 We're going to create our spreadsheet by typing in sheets.new in the URL.
00:05 And from there, we're going to increase the size of the text to 200% so it makes it easier to read.
00:15 And increase the size or the width of the cell.
00:19 And then we're going to rename our spreadsheet or name it as to weather.
00:25 W-E-A-T-H-E-R. And then go back to A1.
00:30 We're going to type in a question. "Did it rain today?"
00:36 And this will be followed by a simple yes or no question.
00:41 Which we will list as B1.
00:45 And after doing that, we're going to go back into the menu at the top.
00:50 We're going to select Insert and then click on Dropdown.
00:56 At the right of the screen, there's a sidebar that appears.
01:01 And it corresponds to what we're going to target as B1, which is now shaded in grey.
01:09 And the sidebar is titled Data Validation Rules.
01:16 And Apply to Range is the targeted range, which is B1.
01:21 And then the criteria is a dropdown.
01:25 And it provides you with two options.
01:29 There could be more if you want to add.
01:32 But for option one, we're going to type in yes, Y-E-S.
01:37 And then for option two, we're going to type in no, N-O.
01:42 And those are your two options.
01:45 We're going to click on Done to capture the results.
01:52 And the sidebar recognizes it as a value.
01:58 And we go back to B1.
02:00 And we go into the icon that drops down.
02:04 It's either yes or no.
02:06 And then we're going to click on Yes.
02:09 And then yes appears.
02:12 But you can always switch it back to no.
02:15 And no appears.
02:17 And then you can switch it back to yes again.
02:19 So that is a simple version of creating an InCell dropdown on Google Sheets.
02:27 Okay, we are going to create a dropdown based on a range.
02:32 We're going to go to our previous spreadsheet titled Weather.
02:36 And from there, we are going to go to A3 and type in the question, "Was the rain heavy?"
02:45 And we're going to put our response in B3.
02:50 And this will be the same as before with a simple answer, yes or no.
02:55 And so in order to do that, we are going to go to Create a Sheet.
03:02 It will be a Sheet 2.
03:04 And this is where we'll put our answers.
03:07 But we're going to go back to Sheet 1.
03:12 And from there, select B3 and then go to the menu, Insert, and then Dropdown.
03:19 And it's the same that appears as before, the sidebar.
03:25 And then we're going to select Dropdown from a range in the criteria.
03:31 And then as you can see, the targeted range is Sheet 1, B3.
03:39 And we're going to go back to Sheet 2.
03:42 And we're going to type in simple answers, yes in A1 and no in A2 cells.
03:50 And then we're going to go back to the sidebar.
03:53 And then under Dropdown from a range, we are going to go and select Data Range.
04:00 We click on that, the icon, where it appears as a grid.
04:04 And then we're going to select a data range, which refers to A1 and A2.
04:09 So we're going to highlight that, and it automatically appears in the Select a Data Range window.
04:16 And then from there on the sidebar, you can see that it appears as options, yes or no.
04:24 And then to make things more visually appealing, we can assign colors to it.
04:30 We can assign green for yes and red for no.
04:36 And those will appear as shaded areas as well as the corresponding colors in the text.
04:47 So the targeted area, Sheet 1, B3, based on the range that we have listed there.
04:56 And so all we need to do now is click on Done.
04:59 And then go back to Sheet 1 where we have the question, "Was the rain heavy?"
05:07 And under B3, we have the area shaded in gray with the arrow pointed down to select your response.
05:16 We click in Yes, and it's in green.
05:19 And then we can click on No, and that is in red lettering.
05:24 So go back to Yes, and that is your drop-down based on a data range.
05:32 [BLANK_AUDIO]