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How to fill drop-down list cells with only colors and not texts in Excel?

Author Siluvia Last modified

In some cases, you may use the stoplight colors to report the status of a project. For example, in the project management table below, Green represents good, Yellow represents at risk, and Red represents off track. Using colors to report the status of projects is an intuitive way to manage projects. Also, you may want to display only the color in cells without the corresponding texts. This article provides two methods to help you accomplish this task.

A GIF showing cells filled with drop-down lists using colors only

Fill drop-down cells with colors and not texts with conditional formatting
Fill drop-down cells with colors and not texts with an amazing tool

Fill drop-down cells with colors and not texts with conditional formatting

In fact, using conditional formatting rules only assigns colors to corresponding text in a range. To display only colors without texts in drop-down list cells, you need to change the formatting of the cells.

1. Firstly, you need to create a drop-down list in cells of the Status column.

Note: If you have created the drop-down list in the cells, skip this step.

1.1 Select cells (G7:G13 in this case) in the Status column, click Data > Data Validation > Data Validation.
A screenshot of Data Validation option in Excel
1.2 In the opening Data Validation dialog box and under the Settings tab, you need to:
1.2.1 Choose List in the Allow box;
1.2.2 Click the Source box, then select the entries you want to appear in your drop-down list. Or you can manually type in the entries and separate them by commas;
1.2.3 Click the OK button.
A screenshot of selecting list entries for an Excel drop-down list in Data Validation settings

2. Keep the drop-down list cells selected, click Home > Conditional Formatting > Highlight Cells Rules > Equal To.

A screenshot showing Conditional Formatting options under the Home tab in Excel

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

3.1) In the first box, select the cell that contains the value you will assign with the certain color, here I select A2, or you can enter the value manually in the box;
3.2) Select Custom Format in the with drop-down list.

A screenshot of the Equal To dialog box for setting Conditional Formatting rules in Excel

4. In the Format Cells dialog box, go to the Fill tab, specify a background color, and then click OK to save the settings.

A screenshot of the Format Cells dialog with the Fill tab for setting cell background colors in Excel

5. Click OK when it returns to the Equal To dialog box.

6. Repeat the steps above from 2 to 5 to assign colors to other values.

By default, when selecting a value in a drop-down list, the value will be populated in the cell. In our case, both the color and the text will be displayed in the drop-down list cells. You need to change the cell format to hide the cell values and only keep the colors.

A screenshot showing cells with drop-down list values and their corresponding colors

7. Select the drop-down list cells, right click and select Format Cells in the context menu.

A screenshot of the Format Cells option in the right-click context menu in Excel

8. In the Format Cells dialog box and under the Number tab, you need to:

8.1) Select Custom in the Category box;
8.2) Enter three semicolons (;;;) into the Type textbox;
8.3) Click OK.

A screenshot of the Format Cells dialog with the Custom number format set to hide text values in Excel

Now you can fill the drop-down list cells with only colors without texts.

A GIF showing cells filled with drop-down lists using colors only

Fill drop-down cells with colors and not texts with an amazing tool

In the above method, creating conditional formatting rules for each value in a drop-down list is very time-consuming. Here we introduce to you the Colored Drop-down List feature of Kutools for Excel. With this feature, you can easily assign different colors to drop-down list entries, then change the formatting of the cells manually to hide the cell values and keep only colors.

Kutools for Excel offers over 300 advanced features to streamline complex tasks, boosting creativity and efficiency. Itegarate with AI capabilities, Kutools automates tasks with precision, making data management effortless. Detailed information of Kutools for Excel...         Free trial...

1. Select the drop-down list cells where you will assign colors to the drop-down entries.

2. Click Kutools > Drop-down List > Colored Drop-down List.

A screenshot of Kutools Colored Drop-down List feature in the ribbon

3. In the Colored Drop-down list dialog box, please make the following settings.

3.1) Select a drop-down entry in the List Items box (by default, all drop-down entries are listed);
3.2) In the Select color section, specify a color for the selected entry;
3.3) Repeat the above steps until all entries are assigned colors;
3.4) Click OK. See screenshot:

A screenshot of the Colored Drop-down List dialog

All drop-down entries in the selected range are now assigned with different colors.

4. Select all drop-down list cells, right click and select Format Cells in the context menu.

A screenshot of selecting Format Cells from the context menu

5. In the Format Cells dialog box and under the Number tab, you need to:

5.1) Select Custom in the Category box;
5.2) Enter three semicolons (;;;) into the Type textbox;
5.3) Click OK.

A screenshot of the Format Cells dialog with the Custom number format applied to hide text

Now you can fill the drop-down list cells with only colors without texts.

A GIF showing cells filled with drop-down lists using colors only

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