Length of drop down list entries

I believe that Microsoft limit the number of entries in a drop list to 8
which I find pretty strange

I am now getting to the stage where some of my DD lists are approaching hundreds of entries
which is painful to scroll through

I would be happy to accept a compromise (say 50 entries) so can
anyone advise how to do this (without extensive VBA code which I can do if necessary)
but I'm looking for a simple solution

Thanks in advance

BazzaBit

Here is a sheet I put together with the help of this forum and the links from You Tube by Neil Firth.
It is a way to produce a searchable drpodown list (from Neils links) combined with a diminishing list that I found on this forum a few years back. I am sorry to say I forgot yhe name of the author but here it is. This may help.
I is done with formulas and involves no code.

Jim O

Jim:

Is there a way to modify the search so it only finds those words that "begins with" rather than "contains"?