Color coding Yes or No drop-down list in Excel

In Excel, creating a YES or NO dropdown list with color coding can significantly enhance the user experience, making data input both intuitive and visually engaging. This functionality is particularly useful in forms, surveys, and interactive dashboards where quick and clear responses are required. This guide will demonstrate two methods to achieve this: using Conditional Formatting for a customized approach and utilizing an advanced tool for added convenience and efficiency.

Create YES or ON drop down list with color with Conditional Formatting

If you want to create a YES or NO drop down list with color in Excel, please do as follows:

1. Select the list you will fill with the YES or NO drop down list, and click "Data" > "Data Validation" > "Data Validation".

2. In the "Data Validation" dialog, under the "Settings" tab, please select "List" from the "Allow" drop down list, type "Yes,No" in the "Source" box, and click the "OK" button. See screenshot:

Now you have added a YES or NO drop down list in the selected list. Please go ahead to add color for the drop down list.

3. Select the table without header row, and click "Home" > "Conditional Formatting" > "New Rule". See screenshot:

4. In the "New Formatting Rule" dialog, please (1) click to highlight the "Use a formula to determine which cells to format" option in the "Select a Rule Type" list box; (2) type the following formula in the "Format values where this formula is true" box, and (3) click the "Format" button.

=$C2="Yes"

Note: In the formula =$C2="Yes", $C2 is the first cell with YES or NO drop down list, and you can change it as you need.

 

5. In the "Format Cells" dialog, please enable the "Fill" tab, specify a background color, and click the "OK" button successively to close both dialogs.

Now when you click the cells in the specified list, it will pop out the YES or NO drop down list. When you select "Yes" from the drop down list, the entire row will automatically be highlighted with the specified color. See screenshot:

Easily create YES or NO drop-down list with color by an amazing tool

Here in the second method, I will introduce the "Colored Drop-down List" feature of "Kutools for Excel", which can help you quickly apply conditional formatting and highlight cells or rows based on the drop-down list selections easily.

1. Select the cells containing the YES or NO drop-down list, and then select "Kutools" > "Drop-down List" > "Colored Drop-down List" to enable this feature.
2. In the "Colored Drop-down list" dialog box, please do as follows:
   1. Check the "Row of data range" option in the "Apply to" section if you want to color the rows.
   2. In the "Data validation (Drop-down List) Range" box, normally the selected column containing the Yes and No drop-down list is entered here.
      And in the "Highlight rows" box, please select the rows matched with the specified data validation range;
      Note: To only color the drop-down list cells, skip steps 1) and 2) above.
   3. In the "List Items" section, select a drop-down list item, says "Yes", and specify a color to it. Repeat this operation to assign another color to the "No" item.
   4. Click the "OK" button.
      

Result:

From now on, rows will be automatically highlighted based on your drop-down list selections.

Demo: Create YES or NO drop down list with color in Excel

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