Microsoft Office

Using Data Validation
This chapter explores a very useful Excel feature known as data validation.
Data validation enables you to add useful dynamic elements to your
worksheet without using any macro programming.
About Data Validation
Excel’s data validation feature enables you to set up certain rules that dictate
what can be entered into a cell. For example, you may want to limit data entry
in a particular cell to whole numbers between 1 and 12. If the user makes an
invalid entry, you can display a custom message, such as the one shown in
Figure 25.1.
Excel makes it easy to specify the validation criteria, and you can also use a formula
for more complex criteria.
The data validation suffers from a potentially serious problem:
CAUTION
If the user copies a cell that does not use data validation and
pastes it to a cell that does use data validation, the data validation rules are
deleted. In other words, the cell then accepts any type of data.
IN THIS CHAPTER
An overview of Excel’s data
validation feature
Practical examples of using data
validation formulas
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