Microsoft Excel Tutorial: Clearing Out Select Box Options Efficiently

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• Delete a Drop-Down List in an Excel Spreadsheet

Removing a drop-down list from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet is as easy as selecting the drop-down cells and choosing an option. This keeps the values that you’ve chosen while the drop-down was present. We’ll show you how to do that.

Delete a Drop-Down List in an Excel Spreadsheet

When you remove the drop-down menu from your cells , Excel prevents users from choosing from your predefined value list. The values that the user has already chosen are retained, but you can remove them if you want.

To do that, launch your spreadsheet with Microsoft Excel. In your spreadsheet, select the cells where you want to remove the drop-down menu. You can select multiple cells by holding down the Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac) key and clicking your cells.

While your cells with the drop-down menu are highlighted, in Excel’s ribbon at the top , click the “Data” tab.

On the “Data” tab, in the “Data Tools” section, click “Data Validation.”

A “Data Validation” window will open. Here, at the top, click the “Settings” tab. Then, at the bottom, click “Clear All” followed by “OK.”

To quickly restore your removed drop-down menus , press Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Command+Z (Mac).

And that’s it. Excel has removed the drop-down menu from your selected cells.

Later, if you need another drop-down menu, Excel makes it easy to insert drop-downs in your spreadsheets .

Related: How to Add a Drop-Down List to a Cell in Excel