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Excel online: dropdown list not working

matt howell 3,511 Reputation points
2023-07-13T20:09:52+00:00

When I open the file in the browser, I get an error about unsupported features, and some nonsense about there being too many objects/pictures etc - this is a 55 row sheet with 6 columns and the only "object" is a dropdown list that gets options from another worksheet in the file. When I first tested the dropdown list using a browser it did work. And one Msft article implied dropdown lists should work in the browser version, but it's hard to get a clear answer (about anything) from the scattered, disorganized Msft documentation. so do they or don't they?

I'd also add that the Office online apps have deteriorated noticeably over the last year - they are much slower to open and respond and there are often weird errors I rarely saw before.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For business | Other

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-08-29T01:23:17+00:00

    Dear Webbrewers,

    Thanks for your confirmation.

    The feature does work in my environment. There may be no other way creating the dropdown list in Excel for the web.

    As the feature doesn't work in all your files in Excel for the web in your environment, I'm afraid that there may be nothing you can do at your side to fix the issue by yourself and the issue needs to be fixed by our related team directly.

    I suggest you contact the administrator in your organization if you aren't the administrator and let him follow the steps in Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn to open a support ticket to our related team as soon as possible.

    The administrator is always the first person who subscribes the Microsoft 365 business subscription or the IT administrator in your organization.

    About admin roles in the Microsoft 365 admin center - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn

    How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support

    Thanks for your effort and time.

    Sincerely

    Cliff | Microsoft Community Moderator

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  2. matt howell 3,511 Reputation points
    2023-08-24T20:37:21+00:00

    Aside from the drop down boxes which you confirmed are supported in the browser version, the file only contains text - no other "unsupported features". As I said removing the drop down boxes made no difference - I had to create a new file without them. Very poor experience.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-07-14T01:40:29+00:00

    Dear Webbrewers,

    Based on the article Create a drop-down list - Microsoft Support, the basic drop-down list feature should be supported in Excel for the web.

    About "When I open the file in the browser, I get an error about unsupported features", may I know whether you added some other features in the file? Is the file created with the Excel application and then uploaded to OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online?

    If you create a new file in OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online, create a simple drop-down list, what's the result?

    Thanks for your effort and time!

    Sincerely

    Cliff | Microsoft Community Moderator

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  4. matt howell 3,511 Reputation points
    2023-08-23T17:18:10+00:00

    And by the way for obvious reasons, I'm not using the flawed OneDrive sync client.

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  5. matt howell 3,511 Reputation points
    2023-08-23T13:36:41+00:00

    I recreated the file with only 2 worksheets in it but when I test the sharing link it just doesn't open. This is beyond ridiculous. And when I try to open the file in desktop excel, it says it's "downloading" the file....and then takes about 10 minutes to open - why on earth would i want a hosted file to be downloaded????

    And why is a tiny file with 2 worksheets so large - 13mB? And the memory used just to open the file is over a gB which is absurd. It's literally killing my computer.

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