Are there blanks because the list has empty cells at the bottom of it?
If yes, you could use a dynamic name that adjusts according to the number of
elements in that list.
See Debra Dalgleish's site for more info:
http://www.contextures.com/xlNames01.html#Dynamic
If the blanks are embedded, I think I'd just add them to dropdown/combobox via
code. But there is a difference between a dropdown (from the Forms toolbar) and
a combobox (from the control toolbox toolbar):
Option Explicit
Sub testme1()
Dim myDD As DropDown
Dim myRng As Range
Dim myCell As Range
With Worksheets("sheet1")
Set myDD = .DropDowns("drop down 1")
myDD.RemoveAllItems
Set myRng = .Range("a1:A20")
For Each myCell In myRng.Cells
If IsEmpty(myCell) Then
'do nothing
Else
myDD.AddItem myCell.Value
End If
Next myCell
End With
End Sub
Sub testme2()
Dim myCombobox As ComboBox
Dim myRng As Range
Dim myCell As Range
With Worksheets("sheet1")
Set myCombobox = .ComboBox1
myCombobox.Clear
Set myRng = .Range("a1:A20")
For Each myCell In myRng.Cells
If IsEmpty(myCell) Then
'do nothing
Else
myCombobox.AddItem myCell.Value
End If
Next myCell
End With
End Sub