Drop down list with external hyperlinks

[andy62]

I would like to set up a data validation where the items in the drop-down
list are external hyperlinks. If I put complete URLs in my list, they don't
show up as active hyperlinks unless the user happens to double-click or F2
the cell to activate autocorrect and cause the link to become active. Is
there any way to get an active hyperlink from a drop-down list? Furthermore,
what I really like to be able to do is have the items in the list be true
hyperlinks where the text is a hyperlinked label, not a full URL. That is
probably not possible, but any help would be appreciated.

TIA

 

[Gary''s Student]

Put your (complete) URLs is a list somewhere in the worksheet. Then setup the
Data Validatation as usual in a cell, say cell B1. Now in A1, put:

=HYPERLINK(B1)

So now even though the data validation cell is "cold", A1 is "clickable".

The same cheesy little trick will work for pulling hyperlinks using
VLOOKUP() or other lookup functions.