Tip #20 - Three things you probably didn't know you can do with picklists

Tip #20 - Three things you probably didn't know you can do with picklists

Hello Zoho Sheet users!

We’re back with another quick tip to help you make your spreadsheets smarter. Picklists are a great tool to maintain consistency in your spreadsheet. Manually entering data is time-consuming and often leaves typos and irregular formatting. With a picklist, you can give a fixed set of options to select from, which helps keep your data clean and structured. Here are some advanced Picklist options that will make data entry super easy while maintaining data quality.

Here’s a sample use case for better understanding:

1. Multi-select in your picklist

Let’s say you are collecting personal information during a hiring process, and you also want to know the languages each candidate speaks. Instead of using multiple columns or stuffing everything into one, simply use a multi-select. This allows you to select multiple languages in one cell without any errors. Here's how you can do it:

Step 1: Select the range of cells you want to insert the picklist to.

Step 2: Insert a picklist using Insert > Picklist > Create Picklist.

Step 3: In the Picklist setup panel, switch to Multiselect.

Step 4: Enter your dropdown options and click Create.

Your multi-select Picklist is ready to use, as you can select multiple options in one.


Notes
The COUNT() function lets you count how many times each item has been entered, even if multiple entries are listed in the same cell.


 

2. Format your picklist

Want your dropdown to communicate urgency visually? Color-code your picklist options using red, yellow, and green. This works with both single- and multi-select picklists.

 

3. Turn existing data into drop-down options 

Want a set of data in your spreadsheet to serve as your picklist source? Simply link your data directly—no need to retype it.
Here's how you can do it:

Step 1: In the Type section of your Picklist setup panel, select Cell Range 

Step 2: Select the range of cells that contain your dropdown options

Step 3: Choose whether you want your data arranged Vertically or Horizontally

Step 4: Click Create






Now, your Picklist will always stay in sync with your source—great for frequently updated spreadsheets.

    • Sticky Posts

    • Tip #20 - Three things you probably didn't know you can do with picklists

      Hello Zoho Sheet users! We’re back with another quick tip to help you make your spreadsheets smarter. Picklists are a great tool to maintain consistency in your spreadsheet. Manually entering data is time-consuming and often leaves typos and irregular

    • Tip #18: 6 Trendlines and when to use them in your spreadsheet data?

      Charts are a great tool for visualizing and interpreting large chunks of data in spreadsheets. Zoho Sheet offers you 35+ chart options, along with AI-powered chart recommendations based on the data set you select. There are various chart elements that

    • Tip #16: Ask Zia your data-related questions and get powerful insights

      Zoho Sheet provides a variety of tools and functionalities to help you analyze your data from end to end. But what if you could analyze all your data sets with a single AI-powered tool? Meet Zia, our smart virtual assistant who will answer all your data-related

    • Tip #17: Easily share spreadsheets with non-Zoho account users

      With efficient, collaboration-friendly options, Zoho Sheet is a popular choice among users. Sheet's external share links help you collaborate more effectively by sharing your spreadsheets with anyone outside your organization, including users who do not

    • Tip #7: Four things you didn't know you can do with Conditional Formatting

      Conditional formatting helps you highlight and visualize data in your spreadsheet based on provided rules. Zoho Sheet offers three types of conditional formatting: Classic, Color Scales, and Icon Sets. If you're already familiar with how Conditional Formatting works, here are some bonus tips for Classic formats: Customize rules with formulas Zoho Sheet allows you to create personalized rules based on formulas. For example, in a task list you can use customized formulas to highlight tasks which are

      • Recent Topics

      • Markdown support, code cells...

        Hi Zoho I'd like to vote for a feature that markdown is supported with: Headings Code highlighting Quoteblocks ... Furthermore a inline card(like inline sketch card) for special text like Code would be great. And just to add my vote as well for "Tags"!

      • Minimise chat when user navigates to new page

        When the user is in an active chat (chatbot) and is provide with an internal link, when they click the link to go to the internal page the chat opens again. This is not a good user experience. They have been sent the link to read what is on the page.

      • How do I fix this? Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked.

        How do I fix this? Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked.

      • Reports: Custom Search Function Fields

        Hi Zoho, Hope you'll add this into your roadmap. Issue: For the past 2yrs our global team been complaining and was brought to our attention recently that it's a time consuming process looking/scrolling down. Use-case: This form is a service report with

      • Zoho Projects app update: Voice notes for Tasks and Bugs module

        Hello everyone! In the latest version(v3.9.37) of the Zoho Projects Android app update, we have introduced voice notes for the Tasks and Bugs module. The voice notes can be added as an attachment or can be transcribed into text. Recording and attaching

      • zurl URL shortener Not working in Zoho social

        zurl URL shortener Not working in while creating a post in Zoho social

      • In the Zoho CRM Module I have TRN Field I should contain 15 digit Number , If it Contain less than 15 digit Then show Alert message on save of the button , If it not contain any number not want to sh

        Hi In the Zoho CRM Module I have TRN Field I should contain 15 digit Number , If it Contain less than 15 digit Then show Alert message on save of the button , If it not contain any number not want to show alert. How We can achive in Zoho CRm Using custom

      • Power of Automation::Streamline log hours to work hours upon task completion.

        Hello Everyone, A Custom Function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as to when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:-

      • Zoho Bookings know-how: A hands-on workshop series

        Hello! We’re conducting a hands-on workshop series to help simplify appointment scheduling for your business with Zoho Bookings. We’ll be covering various functionalities and showing how you can leverage them for your business across five different sessions.

      • Custom report

        Hello Everyone I hope everything is fine. I've tried to To change the layout of the reports, especially the summary page report, and I want to divide summary of each section in the survey but I can't For example: I have a survey containing five different

      • Zoho Journey - ZOHO MARKETING AUTOMATION

        I’ve encountered an issue while working with a journey in Zoho Marketing Automation. After creating the journey, I wanted to edit the "Match Criteria" settings. Unfortunately: The criteria section appears to be locked and not editable. I’m also unable

      • Custom Fields in PDF outputs

        I created a couple of custom fields. e.g Country of Origin and HS Tariff Code. I need these to appear on a clone of a sales order PDF template but on on the standard PDF template. When I select "appear on PDFs' it appears on both but when I don't select

      • How to create a Service Agreement with Quarterly Estimate

        Hello, I'm not sure if this has been asked before so please don't get mad at me for asking. We're an NDIS provider in Australia so we need to draft a Service Agreement for our client. With the recent changes in the NDIS we're now required to also include

      • Change Currency symbol

        I would like to change the way our currency displays when printed on quotes, invoices and purchase orders. Currently, we have Australian Dollars AUD as our Home Currency. The only two symbol choices available for this currency are "AU $" or "AUD". I would

      • Python - code studio

        Hi, I see the code studio is "coming soon". We have some files that will require some more complex transformation, is this feature far off? It appears to have been released in Zoho Analytics already

      • Zoho Social - Post Footer Templates

        As a content creator I often want to include some information at the end of most posts. It would be great if there was an option to add pre-written footers, similar to the Hashtag Groups at the end of posts. For example, if there is an offer I'm running

      • Allow to pick color for project groups in Zoho Projects

        Hi Zoho Team, It would be really helpful if users could assign colors to project groups. This would make it easier to visually distinguish groups, improve navigation, and give a clearer overview when managing multiple projects. Thanks for considering

      • Zoho Books - Quotes to Sales Order Automation

        Hi Books team, In the Quote settings there is an option to convert a Quote to an Invoice upon acceptance, but there is not feature to convert a Quote to a Sales Order (see screenshot below) For users selling products through Zoho Inventory, the workflow

      • Can't find imported leads

        Hi There I have imported leads into the CRM via a .xls document, and the import is showing up as having been successful, however - when I try and locate the leads in the CRM system, I cannot find them.  1. There are no filters applied  2. They are not

      • Custom Button Disappearing in mobile view | Zoho CRM Canvas

        I'm working in Zoho CRM Canvas to create a custom view for our sales team. One of the features I'm adding is a custom button that opens the leads address in another tab. I've had no issue with this in the desktop view, but in the mobile view the button

      • The connected workflow is a great idea just needs Projects Integrations

        I just discovered the connected workflows in CRM and its a Great Idea i wish it was integrated with Zoho Projects I will explain our use case I am already trying to do something like connected workflow with zoho flow Our requirement was to Create a Task

      • Zoho Projects MCP Feedback

        I've started using the MCP connector with Zoho Projects, and the features that exist really do work quite well - I feel this is going to be a major update to the Zoho Ecosystem. In projects a major missing feature is the ability to manage, (especially

      • Function #10: Update item prices automatically based on the last transaction created

        In businesses, item prices are not always fixed and can fluctuate due to various factors. If you find yourself manually adjusting the item rates every time they change, we have the ideal time-saving solution for you. In today's post, we bring you custom

      • email template

        How do I create and save an email template

      • Enhancements in Portal User Group creation flow

        Hello everyone, Before introducing new Portal features, here are some changes to the UI of Portals page to improve the user experience. Some tabs and options have been repositioned so that users can better access the functionalities of the feature. From

      • Archiving Contacts

        How do I archive a list of contacts, or individual contacts?

      • How do I filter contacts by account parameters?

        Need to filter a contact view according to account parameter, eg account type. Without this filter users are overwhelmed with irrelevant contacts. Workaround is to create a custom 'Contact Type' field but this unbearable duplicity as the information already

      • Can I add Conditional merge tags on my Templates?

        Hi I was wondering if I can use Conditional Mail Merge tags inside my Email templates/Quotes etc within the CRM? In spanish and in our business we use gender and academic degree salutations , ie: Dr., Dra., Sr., Srta., so the beginning of an email / letter

      • email moderation issue when email is sent in the name of a mail group

        Symptom: an email that is sent by a mail group moderator in the name of a moderated mail group is held back for approval. Reproduction: Create a moderated mail group with members and moderators. Allow that mails can be sent in the name of the group (extended settings). Send an email to the group as a group moderator, but in the name of the group. This mail is held back for moderation which is unexpected. Expected: A mail sent by group moderator to a moderated group are not held back for moderation

      • blank page after login

        blank page after logging into my email account Thanks you

      • Introducing the revamped What's New page

        Hello everyone! We're happy to announce that Zoho Campaigns' What's New page has undergone a complete revamp. We've bid the old page adieu after a long time and have introduced a new, sleeker-looking page. Without further ado, let's dive into the main

      • Always display images from this sender – Is this feature available?

        In Zoho mail, I had my "Load external images" setting set to "Ask me", and that's fine. That's the setting I prefer. What's not fine though is I always need to tick "Display now" for each email I get, regardless if I've done that multiple times from several

      • Function #9: Copy attachments of Sales Order to Purchase Order on conversion

        This week, we have written a custom function that automatically copies the attachments uploaded for a sales order to the corresponding purchase order after you convert it. Here's how to configure it in your Zoho Books organization. Custom Function: Hit

      • Free webinar: Security that works: Building resilience for the AI-powered workforce

        Hello there, Did you know that more than 51% of organizations worldwide have experienced one or more security breaches, each costing over $1 million in losses or incident response? In today’s threat landscape, simply playing defense is no longer enough.

      • "Subject" or "Narration"in Customer Statement

        Dear Sir, While creating invoice, we are giving in "Subject" the purpose of invoice. For Example - "GST for the month of Aug 23", IT return FY 22-23", "Consultancy", Internal Audit for May 23". But this subject is not coming in Customer Statement. Only

      • Apply Vendor Credit Automatically

        Hello!!! Is there a way where in we can apply vendor credits automatically on the FIRST OUTSTANDING BILL of the vendor?? We have lots of VENDOR CREDITS ISSUES mostly!!! Applying it manually is a pain for us. Would be great if we have a way to apply the

      • Zoho Notebook Sync problem

        I'm facing a problem with syncing of notebook on android app. It's not syncing. Sometimes it syncs after a day or two.  I created some notes on web notebook but it's not syncing on mobile app. Please help!!!!

      • Apply Vendor Credits Automatically

        We are bulk importing Vendor credits in Zoho Books!!! Is there a way to apply vendor credits automatically to the first UNPAID bill of the Vendor?

      • Cant Save Gauge on Creator Page

        How to Save Gauge on Creator Page see movie https://vimeo.com/1116410860?share=copy#t=0

      • Apply Advance option not shown in report

        We are facing an issue in Zoho Expenses. While approving an Expense Report, the "Apply Advance" option is not appearing under the three dots (More Options). Details: Module: Expense Reports Issue: "Apply Advance" option not visible Status of Report: Awaiting

      • Next Page