How to create drop down list with multiple checkboxes in Excel?

Many Excel users tend to create drop down list with multiple checkboxes in order to select multiple items from the list per time. Actually, you can’t create a list with multiple checkboxes with Data Validation. In this tutorial, we are going to show you two methods to create drop down list with multiple checkboxes in Excel.

Use List Box to create a drop down list with multiple checkboxes
A: Create a list box with source data
B: Name the cell which you will locate the selected items
C: Insert a shape to help output the selected items
Easily create drop down list with checkboxes with an amazing tool
More tutorials for drop down list...

Use List Box to create a drop down list with multiple checkboxes

As below screenshot shown, in current worksheet, all names in range A2:A11 will be the source data of the list box. Click on the button in cell C4 can output the selected items, and all selected items in the list box will be displayed in cell E4. To achieve this, please do as follows.

A. Create a list box with source data

1. Click Developer > Insert > List Box (Active X Control). See screenshot:

2. Draw a list box in current worksheet, right click it and then select Properties from the right-clicking menu.

3. In the Properties dialog box, you need to configure as follows.

• 3.1 In the ListFillRange box, enter the source range you will display in the list (here I enter range A2:A11);
• 3.2 In the ListStyle box, select 1 - fmList StyleOption;
• 3.3 In the MultiSelect box, select 1 – fmMultiSelectMulti;
• 3.4 Close the Properties dialog box. See screenshot:

B: Name the cell which you will locate the selected items

If you need to output all selected items into a specified cell such as E4, please do as follows.

1. Select the cell E4, enter ListBoxOutput into the Name Box and press the Enter key.

C. Insert a shape to help output the selected items

1. Click Insert > Shapes > Rectangle. See screenshot:

2. Draw a rectangle in your worksheet (here I draw the rectangle in cell C4). Then right click the rectangle and select Assign Macro from the right-clicking menu.

3. In the Assign Macro dialog box, click the New button.

4. In the opening Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window, please replace the original code in the Module window with the below VBA code.

VBA code: Create a list with multiple checkboxes

Sub Rectangle1_Click()
'Updated by Extendoffice 20200730
Dim xSelShp As Shape, xSelLst As Variant, I, J As Integer
Dim xV As String
Set xSelShp = ActiveSheet.Shapes(Application.Caller)
Set xLstBox = ActiveSheet.ListBox1
If xLstBox.Visible = False Then
    xLstBox.Visible = True
    xSelShp.TextFrame2.TextRange.Characters.Text = "Pickup Options"
    xStr = ""
    xStr = Range("ListBoxOutput").Value
    
    If xStr <> "" Then
         xArr = Split(xStr, ";")
    For I = xLstBox.ListCount - 1 To 0 Step -1
        xV = xLstBox.List(I)
        For J = 0 To UBound(xArr)
            If xArr(J) = xV Then
              xLstBox.Selected(I) = True
              Exit For
            End If
        Next
    Next I
    End If
Else
    xLstBox.Visible = False
    xSelShp.TextFrame2.TextRange.Characters.Text = "Select Options"
    For I = xLstBox.ListCount - 1 To 0 Step -1
        If xLstBox.Selected(I) = True Then
        xSelLst = xLstBox.List(I) & ";" & xSelLst
        End If
    Next I
    If xSelLst <> "" Then
        Range("ListBoxOutput") = Mid(xSelLst, 1, Len(xSelLst) - 1)
    Else
        Range("ListBoxOutput") = ""
    End If
End If
End Sub

Note: In the code, Rectangle1 is the shape name; ListBox1 is the name of the list box; Select Options and Pickup Options are the displayed texts of the shape; and the ListBoxOutput is the range name of the output cell. You can change them based on your needs.

5. Press Alt + Q keys simultaneously to close the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

6. Click on the rectangle button will fold or expand the list box. When the list box is expanding, checking the items in the list box, and then click the rectangle again to output all selected items into cell E4. See below demo:

7. And then save the workbook as an Excel MacroEnable Workbook for reusing the code in the future.

Create drop down list with checkboxes with an amazing tool

Besides the above demo, we also provide a step-by-step guide to demonstrate how to apply this feature to achieve this task. Please do as follows.

1. Open the worksheet that you have set data validation drop-down list, click Kutools > Drop-down List > Drop-down List with Check Boxes > Settings. See screenshot:

2. In the Drop-down List wit Check Boxes Settings dialog box, please configure as follows.

• 2.1) In the Apply to section, specify the applying scope where you will create checkboxes for items in drop-down list. You can specify a certain range, current worksheet, current workbook or all opened workbooks based on your needs.
• 2.2) In the Mode section, choose a style which you want to output the selected items;
• Here takes the Modify option as an example, if you choose this, the cell value will be changed based on the selected items.
• 2.3) In the Separator box, enter a delimiter which you will use to separate the multiple items;
• 2.4) In the Text Direction section, select an text direction based on your needs;
• 2.5) Click the OK button.

3. The last step, click Kutools > Drop-down List > Drop-down List with Check Boxes > Enable Drop-down List of Check Boxes to activate this feature.

From now on, when you click the cells with drop-down list in a specified scope, a list box will pop up, please select items by checking the checkboxes to output into cell as the below demo shown (Take the Modify mode as an example).

For more details of this feature, please visit here.

  If you want to have a free trial ( 30-day) of this utility, please click to download it, and then go to apply the operation according above steps.

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