Blank Rows With Merged Cells in Dropdown Menu 1

[KatiLynSki]

It is probably easier to explain how to recreate my problem...

Merge a cell to the cell below it. Now merge the cell below the merged cell to the cell below it. Make one more merged cell. Now put text in each one like this "excel", "hates", "me".Now click on a different cell somewhere else on the page and go to menu Data --> Validation. Choose "List" and then in the source click the little button to the right and then highlight your three cells. Now you have a drop down menu in the somewhere else cell. But when you go to the dropdown menu it has blank spaces in between the entries (because of the merged rows). If you do the same thing but the list is with cells that are not merged to the rows below then it doesn't have the blank rows. If you are only dealing with cells that are merged in twos it is okay because it is spaced all pretty and everything. The problem is when the cells are not merged evenly so everything looks uneven.


So any ideas on how to get rid of the apparent blank entries in the drop down menu??


-Kati

 

[johnwm]

Merged cells contain their data in the topleftmost of the merged cells. Just copy the required cells to adjacent cells out of the visible area and use this patch as the source for your validation. Example:
You have merged A1, A2 and A3 (data stored in A1), A4 and A5 (data in A4) and A7,8,9 (data in A7). Go to Z1 and enter =A1. Go to Z2 and enter =A4. Go to Z3 and enter =A7. Then set your validation cell range to Z1:Z3

Good Luck
johnwm
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[joerd]

IMHO, merged cells are one of the worst ideas MS has come up with in Excel. I try to avoid them at all times (inserting rows/columns becomes cumbersome, entries no longer "overflow" into the next cell etc.

Sorry, had to say this.

Cheers,
Joerd

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