Display Main and Subcategory in Drop Down List in Excel

Someone recently asked me if it was possible to get a main category and subcategory in a drop-down list in Excel, (something as shown below):

Main and Subcategory in Drop Down List in Excel - Space

My first thought was to do this using VBA (if possible), but the answer is so easy, it surprised me.

Creating Subcategory in Drop Down List in Excel

All you need to do is to introduce a couple of spaces before the items/names of the subcategory. Now when you use this list (with spaces) to create a drop-down list, it will automatically show the indentation.

Here is how to do it:

  • Enter the main category in a cell.
  • In the cells below it, enter a couple of space characters and then enter the subcategory name. This gives an indentation to the text and it looks as if we have created a subcategory below the main category (as shown below):Main and Subcategory in Drop Down List in Excel - input text
  • Use these cells as the source while creating a drop-down list. The drop down will show the indentation as well.Display Main and Subcategory in Drop Down List in Excel- Space

Using Bullets to Show Subcategory in Drop Down List in Excel

In the above example, we have used space characters to show indentation. You can also use a bullet or dash to show subcategories.

Something as shown below:

Show Symbols in Drop Down Lists in Excel - Bullets Main and Sub category

Here are the steps to insert a bullet:

  • Go to the cell and double-click (or F2) to get into edit mode.
  • Press Alt + 7 or Alt + 9 from your numeric keypad. It will insert a bullet in the cell.
    • If you don’t have a numeric keypad, activate the NumLock and follow the above steps.
  • Once you have a bullet in a cell, copy it and paste it in front of subcategories. To get the indentation, simply use the space character. Show Symbols in Drop Down Lists in Excel - Bullets Sub category
  • Now use the list with bullet points to create the drop down list. The drop down would now show a main category and sub-categories in the list (as shown below):
    Show Symbols in Drop Down Lists in Excel - Bullets Main and Sub category

In this case, we have used bullets to show a sub-category. You can use any other symbol (such as increasing/decreasing, less than/greater than).

Mantra for Today: Keep it Simple!!!

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Hello there! I'm Sumit Bansal, founder of trumpexcel.com and an Excel MVP. I started this website in 2013 with a simple goal: to share my love for Excel through easy to follow tips, tutorials and videos. I'm here to help you get the best out of MS Excel to save time and boost your productivity.

6 thoughts on “Display Main and Subcategory in Drop Down List in Excel”

  1. How do I avoid the bullet or spaces showing up on my multiple drop down comma separated selections within a single cell using this approach?

    Reply
  2. Hi Saurabh,

    How can I use this on Pivot table and count the values idividually, let say an item has more than one values selected from the dropdown. how can I segregate it on the pivot?

    Reply
  3. Hi Sumit, Thank you for taking the time to put this online. I really appreciate the codes. Perfect for what I want to do. –Simon

    Reply

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