Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 11, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365
Custom lists are a rather esoteric Excel feature that allows you to specify ordered lists of information for virtually any purpose. For instance, a list might include a series of classes or workshops, or it might include a series of employee names. Custom lists can be used when sorting data tables, and they can be used by the AutoFill feature.
How you create a custom list from scratch has been covered in other issues of ExcelTips. Rather than creating a list from scratch, however, you might find it easier to import a list from a series of cells already in your worksheet. Follow these steps:
Figure 1. The Custom Lists dialog box.
You can now use the custom list as you would any other custom list in Excel.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (6243) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Importing Custom Lists.
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2021-12-11 10:30:19
J. Woolley
My Excel Toolbox includes the dynamic array function ListCustomLists(), which simply lists all of Excel's Custom Lists (built-in plus user-defined) as an array with 1 column and N rows. You can use it like this:
=ListCustomLists()
In older versions of Excel you can use it with the SpillArray function like this:
=SpillArray(ListCustomLists())
See https://sites.google.com/view/MyExcelToolbox/
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