Cell Drop Down List

Operating system is XP Professional

Excel version 2007

I am using  drop down lists for users to enter data into cells.  When the user clicks the down arrow associated with the cell list box the list appears but is always automatically scrolled by Excel to the bottom of the list.  This requires the user to scroll up to select items near the top of the list that happen to be the most frequently used.  How can I get the drop down list to be positioned at the top of list when the list box opens?  Of course, I can reverse the order of the lists but I want them in ascending alphabetical order.

ajmplanner

Are you talking about the drop down you create with data validation and a list of input values? If so then you have a blank cell at the bottom of your input range, remove the blank cell from the input range or move it to th top of the input range.

Giff

This suggests to me that your list source has a blank at the end. Remove that and all should be okay.

Interesting. So you can control where in the list you start from by where you place the blank.

Omar

The drop down will start at the position that the cell currently contains. So if you had a list like so:

[blank]

Apple

Bannana

Cherry

D...

E...

F...

If the cell with the drop down was blank it would start at the first place, if the cell contained 'Cherry' then the drop down would highlight and start at 'Cherry', etc.

Thank you, Omar, et al.  The blank cell at the start of the list solved my problem. 

Are you all mad? You should remove the blank, not pfaff around with where it is positioned so that you can 'manage' the problem.

I've used a blank to allow a less experienced user to clear a cell using the drop down. You and I would just hit the delete key.

Is there a danger that I'm missing? My thought about positioning the blank in the middle would be to start the user next to a common choice, but still keep the list in alphabetical order. I haven't tested it, but would be concerned that some users might not realize they could scroll up.

In my view, if the users don't realise that hitting the Del key will clear gthe DV, and don't realise you can scroll up, then educate them. If they still don't get it, don't let them anywhere near Excel.

To my mind, the correct way is to leave the DV at the last selected value, if you want to presnt it afresh, clear the cell yourself in code.