Pull unique names for drop down list

I have a list of about 50 people's names associated with data. Some of
the names are repeated up to five times. I'd like to creat a drop down
list so that a person can pick their name from the drop down list and
their data will be highlighted. The problems is that I would like to
take my large data list and somehow convert it into a down list with
having all the repeated names, just list one name per instance. Is
there a convenient way to do this?

You can use an AutoFilter to display the data for the selected name.
There are instructions in Excel's Help, and here:

http://www.contextures.com/xlautofilter01.html

[email protected] wrote:
> I have a list of about 50 people's names associated with data. Some of
> the names are repeated up to five times. I'd like to creat a drop down
> list so that a person can pick their name from the drop down list and
> their data will be highlighted. The problems is that I would like to
> take my large data list and somehow convert it into a down list with
> having all the repeated names, just list one name per instance. Is
> there a convenient way to do this?
>


--
Debra Dalgleish
Excel FAQ, Tips & Book List
http://www.contextures.com/tiptech.html

Debra - Thanks for the response. I don't think Autofilter would work
for this application. I didn't specify on my original post but the
original data with the multiple names is different than the data that I
would like to reference in a drop down list. The original list has a
name and a certain number. The number associated with the names places
that name in a predetermined position in a chart (multiple positions
when there are multiple names). I'd like the people to select their
name from the drop down, which would key Conditional Formatting to
highlight each spot in the chart where that name appears.
This list is only 50 names or so long so it would not be so hard to
manually remove the duplicate names for the drop down reference but I
have encountered this problem with much larger data sets with no
solution. I was hoping to figure something out on this small scale that
I could apply in the future on a larger scale.

With names in A1:A50, put this in B1, press
ctrl/shift/enter, and fill down to row 50:

=INDEX($A$1:$A$50,SMALL(IF(ROW($A$1:$A$50)=MATCH
($A$1:$A$50,$A$1:$A$50,0),ROW($A$1:$A$50)),ROW()))

You can now create your drop-down list (say in C1).
Select C1, go to Data > Validation, choose "List"
under "Allow:" and under "Source:" put:

=OFFSET(B1,,,COUNTIF(B:B,"*"))

HTH
Jason
Atlanta, GA




>-----Original Message-----
>I have a list of about 50 people's names associated with
data. Some of
>the names are repeated up to five times. I'd like to
creat a drop down
>list so that a person can pick their name from the drop
down list and
>their data will be highlighted. The problems is that I
would like to
>take my large data list and somehow convert it into a
down list with
>having all the repeated names, just list one name per
instance. Is
>there a convenient way to do this?
>
>.
>