How to quickly create combo box in Excel?

Combo box (Form Control)	Combo box (ActiveX Control)

As we all known, combo box is a drop down list box which combines a text box with a list box. In Excel，there are two types of combo box, one is Form Control combo box, another is ActiveX Control combo box as left screenshots shown. Today, I will talk about how to create these two types of combo box in Excel.

Create Form Control combo box in Excel

Create ActiveX Control combo box and change the font size in Excel

Create Form Control combo box in Excel

To insert this Form Control combo box, you need to activate the Developer tab in the ribbon first. Please do with following steps:

1. In Excel 2010/2013, go to click File > Options, and then click Customize Ribbon from the left pane, and check Developer in the Excel Options dialog, at last click OK.

In Excel 2007, click Office button > Excel Options to open the Excel Options dialog box, in the left pane, click Popular, and in the right pane, check Show Developer tab in the Ribbon under Top options for working with Excel section.

2. After displaying the Developer tab, create your value list that you want to add to the combo box. See screenshot:

3. Then go to click Developer > Insert, under Form Controls, click the Combo Box button, and then drag your mouse to draw the Combo Box into your specific place, see screenshots:

4. Then right click the Combo box, and select Format Control, see screenshot:

5. In the Format Object dialog, click Control tab, then in the Input range field, click button to select the data range that you want to add to the combo box, and you can change the Drop down lines to your need. See screenshot:

6. After finishing the settings, click OK, your combo box has been created successfully as following screenshot shown:

Unlock Excel Magic with Kutools AI

• Smart Execution: Perform cell operations, analyze data, and create charts—all driven by simple commands.
• Custom Formulas: Generate tailored formulas to streamline your workflows.
• VBA Coding: Write and implement VBA code effortlessly.
• Formula Interpretation: Understand complex formulas with ease.
• Text Translation: Break language barriers within your spreadsheets.

Enhance your Excel capabilities with AI-powered tools. Download Now and experience efficiency like never before!

Create ActiveX Control combo box and change the font size in Excel

With the above combo box, you can't change the font size, but using the Active Control combo box, you can set the font size for the combo box. However, creating this combo box is somewhat difficult.

1. Create a list of data that you want to use for the combo box, enter one of your data into a blank cell, select it and right click to choose Define Name to create a range name for this cell to link the list.

2. In the New Name dialog box, enter a name for your list, select Workbook from the Scope drop down list, and then click button to select the data list in the Refer to field. See screenshot:

3. Click OK to finish this operation, then go to click Developer > Insert, and click Combo Box under ActiveX Control, then drag your mouse to draw a combo box, see screenshots:

4. Right click the combo box, to choose Properties to set the properties for the combo box.

5. In the Properties window, in the LinkedCell field, input your cell and list range name that you just created in Step 1 and step 2. See screenshot:

6. Then close this window, and click Design Mode command under Developer tab to exit Design Mode.

7. And your combo box is created and ready using.

Tips:

If you want to change the font size of your combo box, please go to click Design Mode command under Developer tab to entry Design Mode, and right click the combo box to select Properties.

In the Properties window, click  button at the right of the Font property. And in the popped out Font dialog, specify your font and size for your combo box. See screenshots:

And the font size of your combo box will be changed to your setting.