Help with data validation

I am running a small spreadsheet program that I created for tracking costs and budgeting for my construction business. It tracks labor, materials etc. Each project has various codes that allow costs to be tracked. I use a master sheet for costing projects, on this sheet I will assign codes to the different projects which then are used with purchases and labor. It is getting quite extensive sometimes tracking 200 plus trades people at a time. How would I go about protecting the cells that codes are entered and insure they are correct. I can Use the column of my master sheet that has the codes to reference. I wish to have an error message if a code is entered that does not match my master sheets code column. Any help would be appreciated.

H

Welcome to the Excel forum.

In the Data tab, Data tools section, press the Data Validation button, right next to the Text to Columns button..
In the dialog box, select List from the Allow box.
Next, click in the Source box and select the range with your codes.
Then in the Error alert tab you can enter a custom error message.

Users will be able to either type in a code or select from the dropdown list.

I hope this helps.

Good luck!

Hi and welcome

Not easy to say if this would work for you, as no example file means we're working on guesswork and assumptions, but perhaps if you have a list of the codes in one place and need only values from that list to be selectable, then data validation could be your friend here?

Essentially a dropdown list in a cell / range of cells that only allows you to pick from a predefined set of values.

If that sounds like what you need, attach a sample file and show us what values you want to be able to select and where. We can show you how from there.

BSB

EDIT: @Estevaoba beat me to it.

Problem solved thank you so much!

You’re welcome. Glad to help.
Thank you for the feedback and for the reputation added.
Have a blessed day.

Hi again, I just wish to sincerely thank Estevaoba and BSB for their quick replies and finding a solution. Excel is such a great program and I have probably only tapped in to a miniscule of what it can do. I switched over from Lotus and Dos around around 1990. Large books got me underway and I have created a pretty nifty program that is full of massive formulas. It seems every couple of years I have to go in and refine it and then scratch my head on "how did I do that". I am thankful that I found this site. Thank you so much. Not sure how long it would of taken me to muddle through it.

Cheers

H