With the Forms toolbar, it is a fairly straightforward task to add a form control to a worksheet. To add a list box, for example, you would perform a single left click on the list box button  on the forms toolbar, and then move your mouse pointer to the location of your choice. When a given control is selected, the corresponding button on the forms toolbar will have a highlighted background.

 

As you move your mouse over the Excel screen, your mouse pointer will be a cross + when you are over a valid location for the control. When you find the right spot, click on it, and a list box control will be placed at your chosen location.

 

You can resize the list box by mouse dragging the small circles positioned around its border. If you click on an empty cell, the circles will disappear and the list box will be embedded in the worksheet.

  

This is a list box that has been resized and embedded in the worksheet. If you right click on it, the resize circles will reappear and a control/edit menu will be displayed. When you right click on a form control, it can be removed (cut), copied, resized, relocated, or have its properties modified.

 

If you right click on the list box, and then click the properties button on the forms toolbar , a format control dialogue box appear. If you right click on a control, you can also select the Format control option from the pop up menu to display the same dialogue box.

 

This is the Format Control dialogue for a list box control.

 

Under size tab, you will find options to modify the size of the control.

 

Under the protection tab, you can choose to lock or unlock the control, (used with protected worksheets).

 

Under the properties tab you can modify how the control object is positioned when cells are moved or resized. You can also specify whether or not you want the control to be printed with the worksheet.

 

The web tab has options for displaying alternative text for the control.

 

Finally, under the Control tab, you will find options for specifying the input range, (a specific cell range containing the data that will appear in the list), and the cell link, which is the cell that will receive an index value corresponding to the item chosen from the list. When you make a selection from a list box, Excel will place the index value into the specified cell link.

 

 

 

 

To select an input range, put your curser in the input range data field, and use your mouse to select the range of data to be displayed in the list box. To select the cell link, use the Tab key or click your mouse to place your curser in the Cell link Data field. Then, use your mouse to select the cell that the list box output will be placed in. You can also type the cell references for the input range and the cell link directly if you wish. When you are finished setting up the list box, click OK to implement your modifications.

 

 

In this image, you can see that the properties button on the forms toolbar is active (highlighted background) and that the Input range E6:E15 has been entered as well as the cell link, B12.

 

Clicking the OK button will implement the modifications you make to the list box properties.

 

Here you can see that the list box contains the names of the animals in cells E6:E15.

 

The list of animal names can be navigated by the arrow buttons on the right side of the list box, and you can see the index number of a selected item from the list, in cell B12.

 

To rephrase; Zebra has been selected from the list box, and the number corresponding to Zebra’s order in the original cell range (4^th) is visible in the linked cell (B12).

 

You can just as easily have the source list or linked cell on a worksheet that is separate from the form control if you wish.

 

The process described here is basically the same for adding any of the form controls. The only differences are the control property modifications, and data source and link options which vary from control to control.

 

The best way to get familiar with the different form controls is to experiment with them.