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Enhance the functionality of your project tracker spreadsheet by adding a drop-down menu to efficiently update the status of each project task in this video. Begin by inserting a new column to the right of the owner column, naming it “status” to track the completion level of each task. Rather than manually typing the status for each task, which can be time-consuming and lead to inconsistencies, you will implement a drop-down menu using data validation. This ensures that status updates are convenient, accurate, and consistently expressed.
To create the drop-down menu, highlight the cells in the status column down to the bottom of your task list and access the data menu. Choose data validation, select the list of items option, and input the task status terms, such as “not started,” “in progress,” “on hold,” and “completed.” These terms can be customized to best fit your project, separated by commas. Ensure the “show dropdown list in cell” box is checked and save the data validation. The result is a project tracker with a drop-down menu in each cell of the status column, allowing you to easily update the status of each task with a single click. This approach not only streamlines the process but also minimizes the risk of typing errors. In the upcoming video, you will explore using conditional formatting to visually represent task status through color changes in the spreadsheet.