Populate Dropdown selection options based on specific table value

Hi I am new to excel formulas and am trying to figure out how to make it so that the data from one table will show in a dropdown selection menu but only the data that is filtered based on predetermined condition. For example: I have an employees table that lists name and department. I want the dropdown to only show the employee names from a specific department that is already predetermined and does not need to be typed in. This dropdown menu populates with names of all employees in the fabrication department for example.

Thank you everyone!

Hello,

Without having your data I mocked up a worksheet. This was a 2 stage process. The first process was to filter the available names from the department selected using this formula:

Formula:

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This is an array so press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER to get the curly brackets and drag down your range.

Then I created a named range called 'Names' and have this formula:

Formula:

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In a cell for your data validation list enter this:

=Names

I hope this helps

Thank you so much! This is perfect!!

You're welcome!

Please marked as solved.

Actually one more question. I was wondering if there is a way to remove the blank entries from the drop down?

Thank you! This is good