How to Add a Drop-Down List in Word from Excel (2 Ways)

Method 1 – Using the Paste Special Command

Steps:

Select the cell that contains the drop-down list in the Excel file. In this case, it will be B4.
Press Ctrl+C to copy it.

Open the Word file.
Go to the Home tab.
Select the Paste option.
Click on the Paste Special command.
A prompt will show up on the screen.

In the prompt, first, select the Paste Link oval.
Sselect the Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object under As.
Click OK.

Change the list contained in the drop-down list in the Excel file.

The content in the Word file will be changed accordingly.

Method 2 – Applying VBA Code

Steps:

Create a list in the Excel file that you want to add as a drop-down list in the Word file.

Open the Word file.
Go to the Developer tab.
From the Controls group, select the insert Combo Box Content Control command.
We will have a drop-down box on the screen.

Select the Developer tab.
Choose the Visual Basic command.
A prompt will open.

In the Visual Basic window, choose the Tools option.
From the drop-down list, choose the References option.

In the References dialog box, choose the Microsoft Excel 16.0 Object Library option under Available References.
Click OK.

Go to the Insert tab.
Select the Module option.

In the opened module, enter the following code and save it.

Sub DropDownListFromExcel()
    Dim exlApp As New Excel.Application, xlWrkBok As Excel.Workbook
    Dim wkbkName As String, sheetName As String, LRow As Long, a As Long
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    wkbkName = "C:\Users\user\Desktop\Adnan\Drop-Down-List-in-Word-from-Excel.xlsx"
    sheetName = "VBA Code"
    If Dir(wkbkName) = "" Then
      MsgBox "The mentioned Workbook is not found." & wkbkName, vbExclamation
      Exit Sub
    End If
    With exlApp
      .Visible = False
      Set xlWrkBok = .Workbooks.Open(FileName:=wkbkName, ReadOnly:=True, AddToMRU:=False)
      With xlWrkBok
          With .Worksheets(sheetName)
            LRow = .Cells(.Rows.Count, 2).End(xlUp).Row
            Selection.Range.ContentControls(1).DropdownListEntries.Clear
            For a = 5 To LRow
                Selection.Range.ContentControls(1).DropdownListEntries.Add _
                Text:=Trim(.Range("B" & a))
            Next
          End With
        .Close Savechanges:=False
      End With
      .Quit
    End With
    Set xlWrkBok = Nothing: Set exlApp = Nothing
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

Run the code by clicking the triangle-shaped green button.

We will see that a drop-down list is added to the Word file from the Excel file.

How to Create Drop-Down List in Excel

Steps:

Select the cell where you want to add the drop-down list. In this case, the cell will be D5.
Go to the Data tab.
Choose the DataTools group.
From the Data Validation option, select the Data Validation command.

In the Data Validation dialog box, choose List under the Allow option.
Select the range of data that you want to add to that list under the Source option. In our case, the range will be B5:B10.
Click OK.