How can I populate a drop down list from Data Validation?

[Brian]

I proposed this equation in cell A3: =IF(A2="John",NAMES)

John being the words that populate A2 and NAMES being the name of the list
created. For the sake of the example, the list NAMES contains Smith, Jones,
and Williams. The problem is, instead of populating the full NAMES drop
down, the cell only populates the first cell involved in the drop down (i.e.,
Smith). It gives me no option to select one of the names in the drop down.

Is there a way around this?

 

[T. Valko]

Select the cell where you want the drop down list to appear
Goto the menu Data>Validation
Allow: List
Source:

=IF(A2="John",NAMES)

OK out

If A2 does not contain John the drop down will not allow any selections.