Excels Data Validation Feature (Video) (Course Id 2619)

In this presentation author and Excel expert David H. Ringstrom, CPA, shows you how to harness the full power of Data Validation to guide data entry and reduce errors in your spreadsheets. David explains how to create standard drop-down lists—including lists for all twelve months and self-expanding lists based on Excel tables—as well as how to craft dependent lists that adapt based on prior selections. You’ll learn how to apply validation for whole numbers, dates, and times, along with techniques for preventing duplicate entries and limiting text length. David also demonstrates how to clarify and extend existing validation rules, apply visual cues with Warning and Information styles, and protect your rules by locking cells or identifying overrides. Throughout, you’ll gain practical strategies for working with and troubleshooting Data Validation like a pro.

David is the author of “Microsoft Excel 365 for Dummies”, “Exploring Microsoft Excel’s Hidden Treasures”, and has written or co-authored six other books. He demonstrates every technique at least twice: first, on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and second, in the subscription-based Excel for Microsoft 365. David draws your attention to any differences in Excel 2021, 2019 or 2016 during the presentation and in his detailed handouts. The handouts include an Excel workbook with most of the examples he uses during his demonstrations.

Excel for Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based product that receives periodic feature updates. Conversely, perpetually licensed versions have year numbers in their names and do not receive any feature updates.

Course Learning Objectives

• Identify a valid input for a cell that has a Data Validation rule permitting decimals between 0 and 18%.
• Identify the arguments that correspond to the UNIQUE function.
• Recall the worksheet function that works best when limiting Data Validation entries to Less than Or Equal To today's date.