Data Validation - Case Sensitive Issues

Hi everyone,

I'm having some issues making drop-down lists case sensitive.
I am really hoping it is possible as some external software requires an identical match.

Example:

Drop-down list option = 'Clothing'
However, 'clothing' is still accepted if typed in and it doesn't produce an error message.

I understand that I can go into - Data Validation --> Source --> and then type in the options for it to be case sensitive.
EG: Clothing, Food, Gifts, etc.

However, this will not work in my situation as it has a 255 character limit and I need at least 470 characters to include all of my options.

I have included a sample workbook - The column 'Category' (D3:D22) is where I would like the drop-down list with the options from the 'Lists' sheet.

Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Nick

If external software requires exact matches, don't use the range with the data validation drop-down lists to feed the external software. Use another worksheet to shadow your entry worksheet, and use vlookup formulas like D2: =VLOOKUP(ClientExpense_DataEntry!D2,Lists!$A$2:$A$29,1,0). That'd ensure whatever may have been entered in ClientExpense_DataEntry!D2, what's appear in the worksheet with these formulas would be the corresponding values from the Lists worksheet.

Thank you everyone for your prompt responses.

They've all been great ideas and all of them are excellent options for me to use to solve this issue.

I really appreciate your time and assistance