How to create drop down list with hyperlinks in Excel?

In Excel, adding drop down list may help us to solve our work efficiently and easily, but, have you ever tried to create drop down list with hyperlinks, when you choose the URL address from the drop down list, it will be open the hyperlink automatically? This article, I will talk about how to create drop down list with activated hyperlinks in Excel.

Create drop down list with hyperlinks by using formula

Create drop down list with hyperlinks by using combo box

Create drop down list with hyperlinks by using formula

There is no direct way to create drop down list with activated hyperlinks in Excel, but, you can insert a formula to activate the selected hyperlink from the drop down list, please do as this:

After creating the drop down list, please enter this formula: =HYPERLINK(D2,"Go To Website!") (D2 is the drop down list cell) in cell E2 which beside your drop down list cell, and press Enter key, then when you choose one URL hyperlink from the drop down list, and click the formula cell, the hyperlink will be opened.

Create drop down list with hyperlinks by using combo box

Actually, you can also create a drop down list with hyperlinks by using combo box, and when you select a hyperlink from the combo box, it will be activated at once. Please do as follows:

First, please create two range names for your hyperlinks list and a linked cell.

1. Give your hyperlinks list a range name “Hyperlinks”, and name a blank cell “Linked_cell” which is the linked cell of the combo box value into the Name Box, see screenshots:

Second, create a combo box and format the control.

2. Click Developer > Insert > Combo Box, and drag the cursor to draw a combo box as you need.

Tips: If there is no Developer tab in your ribbon, please read this article How to show/display developer tab in Excel 2007/2010/2013 Ribbon? to activate it.

3. After inserting the combo box, right click it, and choose Format Control, in the Format Control dialog box, click Control tab, and enter Hyperlinks and Linked_cell which are the range names you have created in step 1 into the Input range and Cell link text boxes separately, see screenshot:

4. Then click OK button to finish the settings, go on right clicking the combo box, and choose Assign Macro from the context menu, in the Assign Macro dialog box, click New button, see screenshot:

5. In the popped out Microsoft Visual Basic for applications window, please copy and paste the following code between the scripts, see screenshot:

VBA code: activate the hyperlinks from combo box:

HyperLink_Index = Range("Linked_cell")
      If Range("HyperLinks").Offset(HyperLink_Index - 1, 0).Hyperlinks(1).Name <> "" Then
           Range("HyperLinks").Offset(HyperLink_Index - 1, 0).Hyperlinks(1).Follow NewWindow:=False, AddHistory:=True
    End If

6. Then save this code, and now, when you choose one hyperlink from the combo box, the hyperlink will be opened automatically.

Demo: Create drop down list with hyperlinks in Excel