Data Entry Form For Excel 2016

A data entry form is only available for a fully functional Excel table. To get the form, you just need to put your data in a table and the click the Form button. The detailed steps follow below: In your worksheet, type the column headings in the topmost row as usual. Excel 2010 2019. Re: HELP: Inserting a drop down box into a Data Entry Form. Pictures are of little value. Please attach a sample file that represents what you have. The structure of your attachment should be the same structure as your actual data. Any proprietary information should be changed. 'When the Enhanced Data Form add-in is installed, the Excel 2007 Data tab displays a new group DataForm, and this group contains one icon: J-Walk Enhanced Data Form. Select any cell in your worksheet database table, and then select the Ribbon command.' What is an Excel Data Form? A data form is simply a modal dialog box with the fields for one record. The form sits on top of your Excel spreadsheet and allows you to enter up to 32 fields per record. You might think of it as an on-screen form or template designed for data entry. Your column headers become the form field names.

Data Entry Form For Excel 2016 Excel
Data Entry Form For Excel 2016 Spreadsheet

Someone emailed me last week about problems with a range named Database. For reasons known only to the hamsters that operate my brain wheels, that reminded me of Excel’s Data Form. It’s a built-in data entry tool, that lists all the fields in a table, with entry boxes for some fields, and the formula results showing. You can scroll through the records, or find specific records, based on criteria.

Data Entry Form For Excel 2016 Excel

It’s not a feature that I use too often, and when I looked for the Data Form command in the Excel 2007 Ribbon, it was missing! It looks like I’m not the only one who doesn’t use the Excel Data Form too often.

Access the Excel Data Form

Even though the Data Form command is missing from the Excel 2007 Ribbon, you can still use it. A quick way to open the Data Form is the keyboard shortcut:

Press Alt + D, then type O

If you use the Data Form frequently, you can add its icon to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT). There are instructions here for customizing the Excel QAT. You’ll find the Form command in the “Commands Not in the Ribbon” category.

Open the Excel Data Form

To open the Data Form, select a cell in a table on the worksheet, then use the keyboard shortcut (Alt + D, O) or the icon on the QAT. It doesn’t matter which cell in the table is selected — the Data Form opens at the first record.

Use the Excel Data Form

To add a new record, click New, and enter the data
To scroll through the records, use the Up arrow and Down arrow keys, or use the scroll bar on the Data Form.
To edit a record, scroll to that record, and change the data in the entry boxes. While editing a record, you can click the Restore button, to restore the current values. To complete the edit, click Close, or move to the next record (scroll bar or arrow keys).
To delete a record, scroll to that record, then click the Delete button
To find a specific records, or the first record that meets your criteria, click the Criteria button, and enter the criteria, then click Find Prev or Find Next.

Data Form Quirks and Mysteries

Here are a few things about the database that might surprise you. If you know of any other quirks, please share them in the comments below.

If there is a range named Database on the worksheet, it will open in the Data Form, even you have selected a cell in a different table. Ah, that’s what reminded me of Data Forms, when I got the Database question.

The width of the boxes in the Data Form is connected to the widest column in the underlying table. If you widen that column, the Data Form will adjust automatically.

If numeric columns are too narrow, and some cells show number signs, those number signs are shown in the Data Form, even if its data entry boxes are wide enough to show the number. And unlike the worksheet, where you can point to a cell with number signs, and see a popup with the value, there’s no such feature in the Data Form.

But even the number sign quirk has a quirk! Sometimes the numbers are shown in the Data Form, even if the numbers signs show on the worksheet. In the screen shot below, the Cost column is slightly wider, and now the numbers can be seen in the Data Form.

Data Validation lists, and other data validation settings, are ignored. For example, there’s a drop down list in the Product column on the worksheet, but not in the Data Form. You can type any value in the Product cell, despite the restrictions on the worksheet.

After editing a record, if you click Find Prev or Find Next, the changes are not saved.

Data Entry Form For Excel 2016 Spreadsheet

Enhanced Data Form

If you like the built-in Excel Data Form, you’ll like John Walkenbach’s Enhanced Data Form even better. It’s a free download for the full version (either Excel 2007 and later, or Excel 2003 and earlier).

NOTE: John Walkenbach’s Excel site was sold, and the Enhanced Data Form is no longer available there. However, you can still download the file, from the Wayback Machine website, on this copy of John’s download page.

The J-Walk Enhanced Data Form automatically creates a drop down list, if the data validation list is based on a range with the same name as the field. In this example, the data validation list in column B is based on the Product named range.

Another benefit of the J-Walk Enhanced Data Form is that it opens at the record that’s currently selected.
Also, you can drag the bottom right corner, to adjust the size of the form, and the data entry boxes.

Do You Use the Data Form?

What about you — do you use the Excel Data Form? Did you know that it existed? Are there any other Data Form quirks that you know about?
___________

Unfortunately, the command to access the data form is not on the Ribbon, but you can do one of thefollowing:

Add it in your own menu:
add it in the Quick Accesstoolbar:

To use the data form, follow these steps:

1. Select data with headers of the columns in the first row of your datarange:

Seehow to select row and column by keyboard andquick way to select all cells.

2. Click the Form button on your own menu or in the QuickAccess toolbar. Excel displays a dialog box customized to your data:

Notes:

To move between the text boxes, press Tab.
You can't modify formulas using the data entry form - the formula result appears as text, not as anedit box.
To add a new row to your table, click the New button:
You can also use the form to edit the existing data.

See also this tip in French:Comment utiliser un formulaire pour la saisie de données.