Excel - Keyboard Shortcuts for drop down lists

S

Sameer

I created drop down list in Excel using the Data - Validation and then
pointed it to a range of cells. It works wonderfully well. I have many
of these in my excel sheet. The current problem i am having is that i
have to use the mouse to activate the drop-down list and then i can
use the keyboard(up - down) arrow to scroll through the list.
Is there a way where i can activate the drop-down list by keyboard
itself?. This would be very very helpful as i have loads of drop-down
lists and it can get painful at times. Please note that it is not a
control but a list creates using the Data- Validation - Method.

Thanks
Sameer
 
J

Jim Rech

Alt-Down Arrow.

--
Jim Rech
Excel MVP
|I created drop down list in Excel using the Data - Validation and then
| pointed it to a range of cells. It works wonderfully well. I have many
| of these in my excel sheet. The current problem i am having is that i
| have to use the mouse to activate the drop-down list and then i can
| use the keyboard(up - down) arrow to scroll through the list.
| Is there a way where i can activate the drop-down list by keyboard
| itself?. This would be very very helpful as i have loads of drop-down
| lists and it can get painful at times. Please note that it is not a
| control but a list creates using the Data- Validation - Method.
|
| Thanks
| Sameer
 
S

Sameer

Thanks Jim,
My drop-down lists sometimes is pretty big. Is there a way i can
program where in i hit a letter and it takes me to the first instance
of the word starting with that letter.
Another question where you can maybe throw some light on : I have
bunch of checkboxes which were on the Forms ToolBar. I programmed a
keyboard shortcut to these checkboxes so that a '1' would check it and
a '0' would uncheck it. Is there a keyboard shortcut already existing
that i am unaware of?

Thanks again,
you made my day!.
Sameer
 
D

Dave Peterson

Don't think that Data|Validation supports this type of behavior.

Maybe you could drop a combobox from the ControlToolbox Toolbar on the cell.

Make the linked cell (rightclick|Properties) the underlying cell.

But give it a custom format of ;;; (3 semicolons). It'll look empty on the
worksheet (still visible in the formula bar, though.)

Look for MatchEntry. Change it to: 1-fmmatchentrycomplete

You may also want to change Style to: 2-fmstyledropdownlist
if the user should only get to choose--not type in anything new.
 
J

Jim Rech

Is there a way i can program where in i hit a letter and it takes me to
Not with Data, Validation. Dave's idea is a good one but you would lose the
ability to open the list from the keyboard, I think (the Alt-Down Arrow

I don't think so. These controls seem to require a mouse.
 
S

Sameer

Jim, Dave
Thank you for your comments.
Well, one of the reasons why i have a drop-down list via the
(Data-Validation) method is to keep the size of my file small. I am
using a lot of these drop-down lists and if i were to replace them
with one from the controlbox then, my file size would probably be
thrice the size it is now. I guess given the constraints, the solution
i have now is quite good.

Thanks again,
Sameer
 
D

Dave Peterson

That seems like a very reasonable approach to me.
Jim, Dave
Thank you for your comments.
Well, one of the reasons why i have a drop-down list via the
(Data-Validation) method is to keep the size of my file small. I am
using a lot of these drop-down lists and if i were to replace them
with one from the controlbox then, my file size would probably be
thrice the size it is now. I guess given the constraints, the solution
i have now is quite good.

Thanks again,
Sameer
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