Color Key Drop Down Box

Hi,

I have a legend with color codes in it & no text (yet) in the cells.

I can make a drop down option or list that will "see" these colors?


Using Excel 2013


Thanks

Not clear what you mean by a dropdown list that can "see" colors. Can you give a more complete description of the overall problem you are trying to solve, what you want the user to see and be able to do? Are you talking about cell fill color, or text color?

The only thing I can imagine is that you want the dropdown box to be a list of the color codes shown in the legend, and also have the items in the dropdown be the same color as what is in the legend. Data Validation dropdown lists and combobox controls do not support colored background or colored text for list items. There might be some other exotic way to get there, though, if we can understand your problem better.

Hi 6StringJazzer & Others,

Yes - I thought I could use a Data Validation List Drop down option but appears that Excel does not have this option to "see" colors.

For example - My legend has:

A1 - Red cell with no text
A2 - Yellow cell with no text
A3 - Blue cell with no text

Can Excel utilize a Data Validation (drop down) list to search these cells & "see" the color schemes, then user can select need cell or color?

Thanks

No, you can't do this with data validation. Here is one way that uses VBA and a form. This is a simple example to demonstrate the technique. It assumes three cells in your legend. If you change the fill colors of the cells in the legend, the colors on the form will be updated automatically. If you double click on any cell, the form comes up and you can press the button for the desired color.

Hi 6StringJazzer

The userform is cool. How does it work?