How to Make Multiple Selections in a Drop Down List in Excel

Written by Last updated October 22, 2026

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You can use VBA to select multiple items from an Excel drop-down list and keep them together in the same cell.

One of my colleagues asked me if it is possible to make multiple selections in a drop-down list in Excel.

When you create a drop-down list, you can only make one selection. If you select another item, the first one is replaced with the new selection.

He wanted to make multiple selections from the same drop down in such a way that the selections get added to the already present value in the cell.

Something as shown below in the pic:

New York and York selected together in cell C2, with the city drop-down open.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to make multiple selections in an Excel drop-down list (with repetition and without repetition).

This has been one of the most popular Excel tutorials on this site.

Follow along with the example file

Multiple Selections in Excel Drop Down List.xlsm

This Article Covers

Watch Video – How to Select Multiple Items from an Excel Drop Down List

The video shows the original approach. Use the code below for the examples here, including the corrected check that treats New York and York as different cities.

Create the Drop-Down List

There are two parts to creating a drop-down list that allows multiple selections: creating the list and adding the VBA code to the worksheet.

Excel’s standard Data Validation list doesn’t have a setting that keeps successive choices in one cell. The VBA below adds that behavior; a formula or Office Script isn’t a direct replacement for this selection-change event.

These examples were tested in desktop Excel on Windows. Excel for the web cannot run VBA, and this workbook has not been tested on Mac.

Below I have a list of cities, and I want to select several of them in cell C2.

Five source cities in column A and an empty Selected Cities cell C2.

The example file already has the lists and code. If you’re building this in your own workbook, enter the five cities in A2:A6, then follow these steps:

Select cell C2, or select the range of cells where you want the drop-down lists.

Cell C2 selected before creating its drop-down list.

Click the Data tab.

The Data tab on the Excel ribbon.

Click Data Validation in the Data Tools group.

The Data Validation dialog before choosing a validation type.

On the Settings tab, choose List from the Allow menu.

List selected in the Allow field of Data Validation.

In the Source field, enter =$A$2:$A$6.

The Data Validation Source field set to =$A$2:$A$6.

Click OK.

The completed city drop-down list in C2.

Now, cell C2 has a drop-down list showing the cities in A2:A6. At this point, choosing another city still replaces the previous one.

Select Multiple Items Without Duplicates

A lot of people have been asking about the code to select multiple items from a drop-down list without repetition.

Below is the city list from the No Duplicates sheet, where the selections will go into C2.

The No Duplicates example before selecting cities.

Here is the VBA code. Copy the entire block, including the helper function at the end:

Option Explicit

'Paste into the worksheet's code module, not a standard module.
'Use the drop-down or type one valid choice. Bulk edits replace values.
'Ordinary paste can replace validation. Use Paste Values for a single choice.
'Other VBA that writes to these inputs must disable events around its writes.
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
    Const InputCells As String = "C2"
    Const Separator As String = ", "
    Const AllowRepeats As Boolean = False
    Dim NewValue As String, OldValue As String, Result As String
    Dim Entry As Variant, AlreadySelected As Boolean
    Dim PreviousEvents As Boolean, EventsChanged As Boolean
    Dim Undone As Boolean, Failure As String
    Dim ValidChoice As Boolean

    If Target.CountLarge <> 1 Then Exit Sub
    If Intersect(Target, Me.Range(InputCells)) Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
    If Not HasListValidation(Target) Then Exit Sub
    On Error GoTo Failed
    If Not IsError(Target.Value2) Then NewValue = CStr(Target.Value2)
    If Len(NewValue) = 0 And Not Target.HasFormula And Not IsError(Target.Value2) Then Exit Sub
    ValidChoice = Target.Validation.Value And Not Target.HasFormula And Not IsError(Target.Value2)

    PreviousEvents = Application.EnableEvents
    Application.EnableEvents = False
    EventsChanged = True
    Application.Undo
    Undone = True
    If IsError(Target.Value2) Or Target.HasFormula Then
        OldValue = ""
    Else
        OldValue = CStr(Target.Value2)
    End If

    If Not ValidChoice Then
        Failure = "Choose one city from the drop-down list. The previous selections have been kept."
        GoTo Finished
    End If

    'The separator cannot also appear inside an individual list item.
    If InStr(1, NewValue, Separator, vbBinaryCompare) > 0 Then
        Failure = "This item contains the selection separator. Choose a separator that is absent from the list items."
        GoTo Finished
    End If

    If Len(OldValue) = 0 Then
        Result = NewValue
    Else
        If Not AllowRepeats Then
            For Each Entry In Split(OldValue, Separator)
                If StrComp(CStr(Entry), NewValue, vbTextCompare) = 0 Then
                    AlreadySelected = True
                    Exit For
                End If
            Next Entry
        End If
        If AlreadySelected Then
            Result = OldValue
        Else
            Result = OldValue & Separator & NewValue
        End If
    End If
    If Len(Result) > 32767 Then
        Failure = "The selections would exceed Excel's cell text limit. Clear this cell and start a shorter list."
        GoTo Finished
    End If
    Target.Value2 = Result

Finished:
    If EventsChanged Then Application.EnableEvents = PreviousEvents
    If Len(Failure) > 0 Then MsgBox Failure, vbExclamation, "Multiple selections"
    Exit Sub

Failed:
    Failure = "The selections could not be combined: " & Err.Description
    'Undo may be unavailable for a programmatic edit. Do not undo again.
    On Error Resume Next
    If Undone Then Target.Value2 = OldValue
    If EventsChanged Then Application.EnableEvents = PreviousEvents
    On Error GoTo 0
    MsgBox Failure, vbExclamation, "Multiple selections"
End Sub

Private Function HasListValidation(ByVal Cell As Range) As Boolean
    On Error Resume Next
    HasListValidation = (Cell.Validation.Type = xlValidateList)
    On Error GoTo 0
End Function

Option Explicit'Paste into the worksheet's code module, not a standard module.'Use the drop-down or type one valid choice. Bulk edits replace values.'Ordinary paste can replace validation. Use Paste Values for a single choice.'Other VBA that writes to these inputs must disable events around its writes.Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)    Const InputCells As String = "C2"    Const Separator As String = ", "    Const AllowRepeats As Boolean = False    Dim NewValue As String, OldValue As String, Result As String    Dim Entry As Variant, AlreadySelected As Boolean    Dim PreviousEvents As Boolean, EventsChanged As Boolean    Dim Undone As Boolean, Failure As String    Dim ValidChoice As Boolean    If Target.CountLarge <> 1 Then Exit Sub    If Intersect(Target, Me.Range(InputCells)) Is Nothing Then Exit Sub    If Not HasListValidation(Target) Then Exit Sub    On Error GoTo Failed    If Not IsError(Target.Value2) Then NewValue = CStr(Target.Value2)    If Len(NewValue) = 0 And Not Target.HasFormula And Not IsError(Target.Value2) Then Exit Sub    ValidChoice = Target.Validation.Value And Not Target.HasFormula And Not IsError(Target.Value2)    PreviousEvents = Application.EnableEvents    Application.EnableEvents = False    EventsChanged = True    Application.Undo    Undone = True    If IsError(Target.Value2) Or Target.HasFormula Then        OldValue = ""    Else        OldValue = CStr(Target.Value2)    End If    If Not ValidChoice Then        Failure = "Choose one city from the drop-down list. The previous selections have been kept."        GoTo Finished    End If    'The separator cannot also appear inside an individual list item.    If InStr(1, NewValue, Separator, vbBinaryCompare) > 0 Then        Failure = "This item contains the selection separator. Choose a separator that is absent from the list items."        GoTo Finished    End If    If Len(OldValue) = 0 Then        Result = NewValue    Else        If Not AllowRepeats Then            For Each Entry In Split(OldValue, Separator)                If StrComp(CStr(Entry), NewValue, vbTextCompare) = 0 Then                    AlreadySelected = True                    Exit For                End If            Next Entry        End If        If AlreadySelected Then            Result = OldValue        Else            Result = OldValue & Separator & NewValue        End If    End If    If Len(Result) > 32767 Then        Failure = "The selections would exceed Excel's cell text limit. Clear this cell and start a shorter list."        GoTo Finished    End If    Target.Value2 = ResultFinished:    If EventsChanged Then Application.EnableEvents = PreviousEvents    If Len(Failure) > 0 Then MsgBox Failure, vbExclamation, "Multiple selections"    Exit SubFailed:    Failure = "The selections could not be combined: " & Err.Description    'Undo may be unavailable for a programmatic edit. Do not undo again.    On Error Resume Next    If Undone Then Target.Value2 = OldValue    If EventsChanged Then Application.EnableEvents = PreviousEvents    On Error GoTo 0    MsgBox Failure, vbExclamation, "Multiple selections"End SubPrivate Function HasListValidation(ByVal Cell As Range) As Boolean    On Error Resume Next    HasListValidation = (Cell.Validation.Type = xlValidateList)    On Error GoTo 0End Function

VBA example by Sumit Bansal, https://trumpexcel.com.

This is a worksheet event: Excel runs it when you change the selection cell. Put it in that worksheet’s code window, not a standard module, and don’t press F5 to run it.

Here are the steps to add it to your workbook:

Press Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor.

The Visual Basic Editor and Project Explorer for the example workbook.

You can also open the editor from the Developer Tab by clicking Visual Basic. If the Project Explorer pane is missing, press Ctrl + R to show it.

In Project Explorer, expand your workbook’s Microsoft Excel Objects folder.

The example workbook expanded in Project Explorer with its worksheets under Microsoft Excel Objects.

Double-click the worksheet that contains the drop-down list.

The empty No Duplicates worksheet code window.

Paste the complete code into that worksheet’s code window.

The complete worksheet event code installed in the No Duplicates worksheet, showing its opening lines.

If that sheet already has a Worksheet_Change procedure, don’t paste a second one below it. The two pieces of event code need to be combined into one procedure.

Close the Visual Basic Editor to return to Excel.

Cell C2 ready for city selections after returning from the Visual Basic Editor.

Save the workbook as Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook (*.xlsm).

Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook (*.xlsm) selected in the Save As dialog.

The older .xls format can also store VBA, but use .xlsm for this workbook. Saving as .xlsx removes the VBA needed for multiple selections.

When reopening the workbook, enable macros only if you trust the file. If your organization blocks macros, check with your IT team; you don’t need to enable Trust access to the VBA project object model to run this code.

To try the downloaded No Duplicates sheet, clear C2 first because it contains sample selections. Then choose New York followed by York from the drop-down.

New York and York retained as separate choices in C2.

You get New York, York in C2. If you select York again, the value stays the same, because the code compares complete city names rather than looking for one name inside another.

The comparison ignores capitalization, so Boston and BOSTON count as the same choice. Selecting an existing city does not remove it; press Delete to clear the cell and choose the cities again.

The code briefly undoes the new selection to read what was in the cell before, then combines the values. It turns events off while writing the result so that its own change doesn’t trigger the same code again.

Important: This macro uses Excel’s Undo history internally, so you cannot rely on Ctrl + Z to undo its changes. Keep a copy of the workbook before making substantial changes.

Use the drop-down to add one city at a time. Typing one valid city also works, but replacing the cell with a whole comma-separated list isn’t the same as making individual selections.

Ordinary paste can replace the cell’s Data Validation rule and stop the multiple-selection behavior. Use Paste Values for a single choice; the code rejects a value outside the list while keeping your previous selections.

Changes to several cells at once are left as ordinary edits, rather than being appended. If other VBA writes to these cells, that code must disable events around its writes because programmatic changes don’t create the same Undo history as your selections.

Allow Repeated Selections

The Allow Repeats sheet has the repetition version already set up in C2. Note that if you select an item more than once, it will be entered again (repetition is allowed).

Below is the same city list, with the repeated choices kept together in C2.

The Allow Repeats example with C2 cleared before selecting cities.

In the worksheet code, replace the AllowRepeats line with this one:

Const AllowRepeats As Boolean = True

Const AllowRepeats As Boolean = True

Keep the rest of the code, including the helper function, unchanged. Use this setting in the existing procedure rather than adding another copy of Worksheet_Change.

Clear C2 on the downloaded sheet before trying it, because the cell already contains sample selections. Then selecting Boston, Austin, and Boston again gives you Boston, Austin, Boston.

Boston, Austin, and Boston retained together in C2.

Follow along with the example file

Multiple Selections in Excel Drop Down List.xlsm

Use Multiple Selection in Other Cells

Since I get a lot of similar questions, I have created the following sections to answer some of the most asked questions about this tutorial and the VBA code.

If you have any questions, I request you to go through these sections first.

The code starts with C2 as its target. On the Several Cells sheet, C2, C3, and C4 each keep their own selections from the city list.

Cells C2, C3, and C4 contain independent selections from the same city list.

To use those three cells, replace the InputCells line near the top of the code with:

Const InputCells As String = "C2:C4"

Const InputCells As String = "C2:C4"

Make sure each target cell also has a List validation rule. Changing this line tells the macro where to work; it doesn’t create the drop-down lists.

You can use the following range variations in your own workbook. Replace the same InputCells line with the one you need, rather than adding all of them.

For every list-validation cell in column C:

Const InputCells As String = "C:C"

Const InputCells As String = "C:C"

For columns C and D:

Const InputCells As String = "C:D"

Const InputCells As String = "C:D"

For row 2:

Const InputCells As String = "2:2"

Const InputCells As String = "2:2"

For rows 2 and 3:

Const InputCells As String = "2:3"

Const InputCells As String = "2:3"

Cells without List validation are ignored, even if they’re inside the specified range. Each worksheet that needs this behavior must have its own event code.

These examples accumulate choices within each cell. If you want a choice used in one cell to disappear from other cells’ lists, see Creating Multiple Drop-down Lists in Excel without Repetition.

Change the Separator or Put Each Selection on a New Line

The comma examples use a comma followed by a space between choices. The Separator setting controls both how values are joined and how the no-duplicates version identifies individual choices.

To use a vertical bar followed by a space, replace that setting with:

Const Separator As String = "| "

Const Separator As String = "| "

You can use a space alone with a list of single-word choices:

Const Separator As String = " "

Const Separator As String = " "

A space alone won’t work with this example’s New York entry because that city already contains a space. Choose a separator that appears in none of your list items; the code rejects a choice containing the separator.

Clear any existing selections before changing the separator. Otherwise, the old text still uses the previous separator, so the code cannot reliably split it into individual choices.

For a new line in the same cell, use the Line Breaks sheet. Below is the city list with selections displayed on separate lines in C2.

New York, York, and Boston displayed on separate lines in C2.

In that sheet’s code, the separator is:

Const Separator As String = vbLf

Const Separator As String = vbLf

vbLf supplies the line-feed character Excel uses inside a cell. The original example used vbNewLine; this version uses vbLf to insert the Excel cell line break directly.

If you’re adding this version to your own sheet, make the line breaks visible:

Select the cell containing the selections.

Cell C2 selected before enabling Wrap Text.

On the Home tab, click Wrap Text.

Wrap Text on the Home tab of the Excel ribbon.

Increase the row height so that all the selected cities are visible.

The increased row height makes all selected cities visible in C2.

The example file reserves enough height for all five cities. Selecting New York, York, and Boston puts each city on its own line instead of separating them with commas.

Use the Drop-Down on a Protected Sheet

You can keep the city source list protected while allowing selections in C2. The Protected Sheet example does this by leaving C2 unlocked before protecting the worksheet.

The protected-sheet example keeps the selected cities in editable cell C2.

For your own worksheet, set up the drop-down and event code before applying protection. Then follow these steps:

Select the cells that should remain editable, such as C2.

Cell C2 selected as the input that will remain editable.

Press Ctrl + 1 to open Format Cells.

The Format Cells dialog opened for C2.

On the Protection tab, clear the Locked checkbox.

The Locked checkbox cleared on the Protection tab for C2.

Click OK.

Cell C2 after its Locked setting has been cleared.

On the Review tab, click Protect Sheet.

The Protect Sheet dialog with selection of unlocked cells allowed.

Choose your protection settings and click OK, confirming your password if you set one.

The city drop-down remains available in unlocked C2 on the protected worksheet.

The macro writes only to the unlocked selection cell, so this version doesn’t need Me.Protect UserInterfaceOnly:=True. The protected example was tested again after closing and reopening the workbook.

The example sheet uses demo as its demonstration password. If you need to change its source list, unprotect the sheet first; for more detail on choosing editable cells, see Lock Cells in Excel.

Follow along with the example file

Multiple Selections in Excel Drop Down List.xlsm

You can now keep several choices in one cell, with or without repeated items. Save the workbook as .xlsm so the code stays with it when you reopen it.

Other Excel Articles You May Also Like:

Sumit Bansal

13x Microsoft Excel MVP

Hey! I'm Sumit Bansal, founder of trumpexcel.com and a Microsoft Excel MVP. I started this site in 2013 because I genuinely love Microsoft Excel (yes, really!) and wanted to share that passion through easy Excel tutorials, tips, and Excel training videos. My goal is straightforward: help you master Excel skills so you can work smarter, boost productivity, and maybe even enjoy spreadsheets along the way!

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601 thoughts on “How to Make Multiple Selections in a Drop Down List in Excel”

SW

December 2019 at 2:53 am

How can you correct a mistakenly added item from the drop down menu. If you were to choose multiple items and then want to remove one later, it is not allowed. Please advice
Reply
shyaam

December 2019 at 5:35 pm

Thanks So much, this was much easier than adding a checkbox for selection
Reply
Prakash Kulkarni

December 2019 at 9:14 am

I have a table in Sheet named Abst. Range A Q 2 4 to A R 4 7

Similar to Following Table:-

…. A Q ……..AR

24…Blank….Blank

25…A……….B

26…C……….D

27…E……….F

etc. All Values are Text.

In column I & J I have multi select boxes. In Column ” I ” Drop Down List from Table A Q 24 to A Q 47 While in Column ” J ” from table AR 24 to AR 47. These boxes give comma separated values.

I want in column J to select corresponding automatic comma separated values as per the table. Such as in above example:-

If I select In column” I ” A,C,E
The column ” J ” should give B,D,F automatically

Can you suggest me the proper code ?

Thank you.

Prakash Kulkarni
Reply
Eric

November 2019 at 1:13 pm

Hello, this question was asked below but there was no response to it, how do you use this code in a column in multiple cells and across multiple tabs?
Reply
Hanna

November 2019 at 12:34 am

I entered the VIB Code, but it doesn’t work.
Reply
Andrea

November 2019 at 5:03 am

How do I clear contents if they made a mistake or the item selected has changed?
Reply
Keith Lorenzetti

November 2019 at 7:13 am

thanks for the code, work great !!
Reply
Keith Lorenzetti

November 2019 at 7:12 am

how do I eliminate the data validation error? I can click the error message to ignore the error, but I would like to get rid of it
Reply
- Mike S.
  
  March 2020 at 3:12 am
  
  Hi Keith, were you able to finally get rid of the yellow triangle with an exclamation on the top left corner of the cell? I am assuming that was what you were also getting. Please let me know. Thanks.
  Reply
  - Mike S.
    
    March 2020 at 3:20 am
    
    Nevermind. I got it sorted by converting it from Table to Convert to Range.
    Reply
Jim Sassen

November 2019 at 7:43 am

I am trying to get the multiple selections without repeat to work in two columns next to each other. Each has their own selection list. When I do one column it seems to stop the code from the other and vice versa. Not sure, but somehow I am overriding the one with the other. Any thoughts on what I am doing wrong?
Reply
Ilna

November 2019 at 5:50 pm

This is great, thank you. Once I have multiple selections the filter function doesn’t seem to work – I want to be able to filter by one of the selections and see any line that contains the selection
Reply
Mohamed Ayman

November 2019 at 5:42 pm

Hi,
The is working nice, but I try to make a vlookup based upon its but it not work can you help me
Reply
Ross

November 2019 at 1:09 am

Thanks for the multiple selection tip, the problem I has is that I would like to have multiple selection for columns 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and I have tried to amend with no luck so far. Help appreciated please.
Reply
Munyaradzi Dodzo

November 2019 at 3:02 am

Thank you Sumit for your instructions on multiple selections from an Excel drop-down menu without repetitions. I however found it funny that soon after protecting the sheet this function ceased working and went back to default of selecting just one item. What could be the reason?
Reply
TG

November 2019 at 9:29 pm

Hi,
I used your codes for the multiple selection dropdown list without repetition and I can’t get it to work on my Data Entry form combo box. I’m thinking it’s because I’m not referencing the right location of the list which is not the cell it self but the combo box. Do you have solution for this? I appreciate all the help I can get….Thanks!
Reply
Johny0555

November 2019 at 5:05 pm

I’m using this so to reference engineer experience against applications. I have a list of global applications in the business, then a list of engineers. I’ve created three columns ‘Basic, Intermediate and Advanced’ and the engineer can place their names in the relevant columns. However, if an engineer has basic skills on one of the applications, then increases his knowledge and becomes Intermediate, how do I get it to remove him automatically from the Basic column if he selects his name under Intermediate?
Reply
Satyakumar

November 2019 at 7:49 am

I want c2 cell is depend b2 so that I will use indirect formula or any please suggest me
Reply
shahinda

November 2019 at 3:47 pm

amazing ! you really save my life with that code we can not thanks you enough ,thank you millions and more !
Reply
Jeanne

October 2019 at 11:10 pm

Thank you so much for this article!
I will try my best to explain the issue I am encountering. I don’t know if I have all the correct technical names.
I have successfully created dropdown lists which allow for multiple selections without repetition for three columns. These dropdown lists are within a table for which I would like to be able to sort and refine searches. Is there a way for criteria to be recognized individually in the table rather that a concatenated value for all the possible variations? Again, thank you for your this article, it has been most helpful!
Reply
Michael

October 2019 at 7:33 pm

Amazing – thank you for this thread.

Question: if you want to amend/remove a selection you need to remove and start again. Any way when you select the same again, it simply removes that selection?
Reply
tiffani

October 2019 at 10:14 pm

NOOOOOO! I got it to work, but then it stopped for some reason! I’ve tried everything! (rebooting, starting over, downloading the sample and adding my information there) I cannot get it to work again! On any excel document. I’m not even sure what to do now!
Reply
Deborah

October 2019 at 12:38 am

Oops! I meant CAN’T! 🙂
Reply
Deborah

October 2019 at 12:37 am

I need to create a multiple selection drop down list for an entire column–except the first few cells. Do I have to add the thousands of cells to the formula one by one or is there a short-cut? Obviously, I can add all of them… Thanks!
Reply
Choua

October 2019 at 3:42 am

This is really cool code. If I specify a certain cell as the target address (can’t do column because there are other cells in the same column where I can only allow one option to be chosen), is there any way to use offset or relative references so that the target moves accordingly if, for example, I insert rows above the cell that is being referenced in the code? Thanks in advance!
Reply
Ali

October 2019 at 3:45 am

When I selected the the wrong entry from the drop down, it doesn’t give me the option to delete it. I am receiving an error message: “The value you entered is not from the required list.”. How do I get this fix?
Reply
- Kay Kay
  
  January 2020 at 11:57 am
  
  delete the cell & again select
  Reply
Amanda

October 2019 at 7:55 pm

This has been fantastic for me. One thing I’ve found is when I want to manually delete a selection using the backspace key it will instead delete the value I wanted to keep and insert the value I wanted to remove. Is there a way to have the backspace key actually remove the value you want deleted? I have the code for removing an item by selecting it a second time from the drop down list
Reply
- Ali
  
  October 2019 at 3:50 am
  
  Hi Amanda! I was looking for this code but couldn’t find it anywhere, would you mind sharing it with me? I would really appreciate it.
  Reply
  - Amanda
    
    October 2019 at 7:48 pm
    
    Hope this is what you’re looking for.
    
    If Target.Column = 4 Or Target.Column = 6 Then
    If oldVal = “” Or newVal = “” Then
    ‘Do nothing
    Else
    lUsed = InStr(1, oldVal, newVal)
    If lUsed > 0 Then
    If Right(oldVal, Len(newVal)) = newVal Then
    Target.Value = Left(oldVal, Len(oldVal) – Len(newVal) – 1)
    Else
    Target.Value = Replace(oldVal, newVal & Chr(10), “”)
    ‘Allows multiple items to be selected and to deselect
    
    End If
    Else
    Target.Value = oldVal & Chr(10) & newVal
    Reply
    - Sherry Washington
      
      October 2019 at 9:02 pm
      
      Hi Amanda,
      
      Should this be in addition to the above code or replace the entire code and use this one?
      Reply
Zahid H. Subzwari

October 2019 at 11:22 am

Great tip, thank you.
Reply
Lex Pittman

October 2019 at 12:12 am

I am using the VBA code without repetition. What code can I use to deselect a selected item when chosen again. Right now, I can’t manually delete a selected item without getting an error code. I have to start over.
Reply
- Ali
  
  October 2019 at 3:49 am
  
  Hi Lex!
  
  I have the same issue. I was wondering if you got the fix for this that you wouldn’t mind sharing.
  Reply
Ted R. Ellison

October 2019 at 4:23 am

Damn – What a great tip, thank you so much for sharing, not only the primary code but the options you offered in the Q&A. Truly awesome
Reply
Prashant Hardikar

September 2019 at 8:36 pm

How we can de-select the already selected item from the cell. Do I need to remove all and re-do the selection ? Can we un-select the few one from the list?
Reply
MAHESH

September 2019 at 3:22 pm

I need to remove a entity by double selecting the option. How is that possible?
Reply
Tommy English

September 2019 at 3:51 am

I cannot get this code to work. Even when I download the file directly from this site, the cells in the downloaded file will not allow multiple selections. Any ideas?
Reply
Jeffrey L Nelson

September 2019 at 12:39 am

I have a need to allow my users to type in a value for “other”. If I do this with this formula, it appends what ever was input first, i.e. “one, two, one, two, other”. I’m sure there is something easy to prevent this. Thanks for the help and the advice!
Reply
Nancy

September 2019 at 12:09 am

Hi,

How to do the same in Google sheets?
Reply
Mazen

September 2019 at 5:12 pm

Hi, let say we have another column that we need to do drop down but with another list. so in the excel sheet we have now 2 columns where they have drop down list. how can we add the second to the first VBA code?
Reply
ruby

September 2019 at 2:03 pm

hi, first of all, thank you very much for your teaching and it is very helpful… here is my question

let’s say I have input the following data in
C2 Two, Three
C3 Three, Four
C4 One, Four
C5 Two

then I discover I cannot count the data by “Filter”

what I can do so that I can count out :
One x 1
Two x 2
Three x 2
Four x 2

thank you very much for your help !!!!

ruby from Japan
Reply
Melissa

September 2019 at 11:20 pm

I have a mutliple drop down list in cell C3, for example, dependent on criteria entered in C1. When the value in C1 changes, how can I ensure C3 resets to blank and does not leave the old values that were relevant to the old value entered in C1?
Reply
Elbe Matshaba

September 2019 at 8:49 pm

Hello hello hello. How do I apply this code to the whole row?
Reply
Danusia

August 2019 at 2:15 am

Okay, this is super cool! Thank you for all the added code to make each selection show up on a separate line, and work in a protected file. Having the step by step instructions and the code was very useful!
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Wendy

August 2019 at 4:07 am

I have this code on my worksheet but when I go to another worksheet within the same workbook with the code (to allow multi-select) it turns the multi-select off on all the applicable tabs. If I save and come back in it turns it on again but when I click on another tab with the multi-select code it goes away again. HELP 🙂
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Tiffany

August 2019 at 10:31 pm

After finish and save it but next day I open that file ,the link is not working ,means drop down list is working but related drop down list and vlookup link is not working ,equation link also.
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Diana

August 2019 at 10:15 pm

Thank you! This was so great and it worked perfectly! I have one question: If you selected One, Two, Three, but want to take the Three out, and maybe even go further and select Four now, is there a way to do that? or would you just press delete and start over with Selecting?
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Jay

August 2019 at 5:37 pm

Thanks alot, very handy code.
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Anamika Singh

August 2019 at 10:44 am

How can we create multiple selection in 2 columns with dependant values. Eg. In column 1 if we have country names and column 2 states. Then in column 1 we can select 2 countries and then column 2 shows state list only for those 2 selected countries and then we can select multiple states from this drop-down list which showed dependant values, i.e. State names for those 2 countries.
I am facing issue where in after selecting 2 countries, the state column is not showing the list of states for these 2 selected countries.
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Riff

August 2019 at 2:04 am

Great code! Does anyone know if you can count items when you have multiple items in a single cell? For example, in cell B2, I have apples, carrots, and bananas selected (apples, carrots, bananas) and cell B3 has banana, grape, and watermelon (banan, grape, watermelon). How would I be able to count the number of times the word banana is seen in the cell range B2:B3?
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- Kay Kay
  
  January 2020 at 12:00 pm
  
  use below code. It basically counts no of commas and add 1 to it. so indirectly it counts no of items
  =(LEN(B6)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(B6,”,”,””))+1)
  Reply
  - Kay Kay
    
    January 2020 at 12:00 pm
    
    replace B6 by cell which u want to count
    Reply
- Jed
  
  April 2020 at 11:29 pm
  
  I have a related question! How would I count the number of dropdown selections per cell? In the example above, I’d want B2’s total number of items (apples, carrots, and bananas- so, 3 items) and B3’s total (banana, grape, watermelon- 3 items). Thanks for the help!!
  Reply
Yolanda

August 2019 at 9:28 pm

Thank you! This was great and solved my issue.
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Brian Davies

August 2019 at 1:23 am

is it possible to do any data validation from the multiple selection drop downs ?
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Andrew

August 2019 at 11:42 pm

Once I have values selected and now want to remove one. What do I do?
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Dat

August 2019 at 9:14 pm

Thanks for the great code.
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Sindu

August 2019 at 10:17 am

Is it working??
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Audrey Robinson

August 2019 at 3:09 am

What if I want multiple drop downs in a row and columns? I want to repeat the same row of options line after line, but only the first line is adding options. The rest are single choice only. Thanks!
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