How to show the first item in the drop down list instead of blank?

The drop down list in a worksheet may help us to make data entry easier, we just need to select the items without typing them one by one. But, sometime, when you click the drop down list, it jumps to the blank items first instead of the first data item as following screenshot shown, this may be caused by deleting the source data at the end of the list. It may be annoying that you have to scroll back to the top of a long list for each blank data validation cell. This article, I will talk about how to always show the first item in the drop down list.

Show the first item in drop down list instead of blank with Data Validation function

Automatically show the first item in drop down list instead of blank with VBA code

Show the first item in drop down list instead of blank with Data Validation function

Amazing! Using Efficient Tabs in Excel Like Chrome, Firefox and Safari!

Save 50% of your time, and reduce thousands of mouse clicks for you every day!

Actually, to achieve this job, you just need to apply a specific formula when you create a drop down list, please do as follows:

1. Select the cells where you want to insert the drop down list, and click Data > Data Validation > Data Validation, see screenshot:

2. In the popped out Data Validation dialog box, under the Settings tab, choose List from the Allow section, and then enter this formula: =OFFSET(Sheet3!$A$1,0,0,COUNTA(Sheet3!$A:$A)-1,1) into the Source text box, see screenshot:

Note: In this formula, Sheet3 is the worksheet contains the source data list, and A1 is the first cell value in the list.

3. Then click OK button, now, when you click the drop down list cells, the first data item always displayed at the top whether there are cell values deleted at the end of the source data, see screenshot:

Automatically show the first item in drop down list instead of blank with VBA code

Here, I can also introduce a VBA code which can help you to show the first item in the drop down list automatically when you click the data validation cells.

1. After inserting the drop down list, select the worksheet tab which contains the drop down list, and right click to choose View Code from the context menu to go to the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window , and then copy and paste the following code into the Module:

VBA code: Automatically show the first data item in drop down list:

Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)
'Updateby Extendoffice 20160725
    Dim xFormula As String
    On Error GoTo Out:
    xFormula = Target.Cells(1).Validation.Formula1
    If Left(xFormula, 1) = "=" Then
        Target.Cells(1) = Range(Mid(xFormula, 1)).Cells(1).Value
    End If
Out:
End Sub

2. Then save and close the code window, and now, when you click the drop down list cell, the first data item will be displayed at once.

Recommended Productivity Tools

300+ Advanced Features Increase Your Productivity by 71%, and Help You To Stand Out From Crowd!

Would you like to complete your daily work quickly and perfectly? Kutools For Excel brings 300+ cool and powerful advanced features (Combine workbooks, sum by color, split cell contents, convert date, and so on...) for 1500+ work scenarios, helps you solve 82% Excel problems.

•  Deal with all complicated tasks in seconds, help to enhance your work ability, get success from the fierce competition, and never worry about being fired.
•  Save a lot of work time, leave much time for you to love and care the family and enjoy a comfortable life now.
•  Reduce thousands of keyboard and mouse clicks every day, relieve your tired eyes and hands, and give you a healthy body.
•  Become an Excel expert in 3 minutes, and get admiring glance from your colleagues or friends.
•  No longer need to remember any painful formulas and VBA codes, have a relaxing and pleasant mind, give you a thrill you've never had before.
•  Spend only $39, but worth than $4000 training of others. Being used by 110,000 elites and 300+ well-known companies.
•  60-day unlimited free trial. 60-day money back guarantee. Free upgrade and support for 2 years. Buy once, use forever.
•  Change the way you work now, and give you a better life immediately!

Read More Download Now Purchase

---

Office Tab Brings Efficient And Handy Tabs to Office (include Excel), Just Like Chrome, Firefox, And New IE

• Increases your productivity by 50% when viewing and editing multiple documents.
• Reduce hundreds of mouse clicks for you every day, say goodbye to mouse hand.
• Open and create documents in new tabs of same window, rather than in new windows.
• Help you work faster and easily stand out from the crowd! One second to switch between dozens of open documents!

Read More Download Now Purchase