Excel Match Index for Mutliple Criteria in one cell

Question

I have a spreadsheet which is filled automatically from data in Microsoft Sharepoint. Unfortunately this data fills my location column as follows: IND;# ENG ;# USA if for example that particular input has 3 locations.

I then have drop down boxes (made via data validation) to filter the results down and give an optimum result. However when it comes to choosing location i can either choose ALL, IND, ENG, USA OR IND;# ENG ;# USA. If I chose, for instance, IND, then the options that are in multiple locations will not be returned (only the options that are in only IND will).

I was just wondering if there is any way, avoiding VBA, which will enable a choice of the individual location to return all options in this location, including the options that are availible in multiple locations.

** Please note that these multiple locations are contained within the SAME cell.

Answer 1

It's not possible as you have the question written. A drop down list created by data validation can only display a single result. If you chose 'IND' and wanted to show results for say 'IND' and 'IND, ENG' you would need to use something other than a drop down list or you need to do additional filtering based on the value selected down stream in your code/logic.

I'd say your best bet is to use VBA. This can be transparent from the user. When a user selects a value in the drop down list, vba can sort and filter the remaining drop down list based on what was selected (aka dependent drop downs)