Validation for dependant dropdowns

[Guest]

I have been asked to create 3 dropdowns, the first list has sixteen items on
it. The contents of list 2 depend on list one so I want to write a formula
or something so that whatever is in list 1, the corresponding list appears in
list 2. I then need to repeat this for the final list.

I tried to do data validation using IF function but got excel would only
allow so many characters/iterations of IF.

Is there a way to get excel to accept more characters or for the formula to
be written "smarter" so that I can point any of the 16 entries in list one to
the corresponding list in the second dropdown?

I have looked at the Contextures site but I'm not sure which function there
would be best to use.

Is there a way to get data validation to deal with this or are there other
alternatives I need to consider?

Many thanks.

 

[Tom Ogilvy]

Just put your 16 entries on the worksheet and in Validation, reference the
16 cells as the source for all three data validation dropdowns. if there
are 16 separate tables of values and which table is used for list2 is
dependent of which of the 16 is picked for list1, then this is what is
demonstrated at the contextures site. The explanation there is certainly
much more extensive than anyone would be willing to put in a response to
your posting. The relevant page is:

http://www.contextures.on.ca/xlDataVal02.html

 

[Guest]

Many thanks Tom, I missed that specific page from the site. I've now been
through and got it to work. Thanks for your help and direction.

Cheers.