Excel data validation with suggestions/autocomplete

Question

Apologies for my low level of Excel understanding, maybe what I am looking to do is not possible.

I have a list of 120 entries that I want to use as data validatio

Answer 1

I adapted the answer by ChrisB. Like in his example a temporary combobox is made visible when a cell is clicked. Additionally:

1. List of Combobox items is updated as user types, only matching items are displayed
2. if any item from combobox is selected, filtering is skipped as it makes sense and because of this error

Option Explicit

Private Const DATA_RANGE = "A1:A16"
Private Const DROPDOWN_RANGE = "F2:F10"
Private Const HELP_COLUMN = "$G"


Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal target As Range)
    Dim xWs As Worksheet
    Set xWs = Application.ActiveSheet
    
    On Error Resume Next
    
    With Me.TempCombo
        .LinkedCell = vbNullString
        .Visible = False
    End With
    
    If target.Cells.count > 1 Then
        Exit Sub
    End If
    
    Dim isect As Range
    Set isect = Application.Intersect(target, Range(DROPDOWN_RANGE))
    If isect Is Nothing Then
       Exit Sub
    End If
       
    With Me.TempCombo
        .Visible = True
        .Left = target.Left - 1
        .Top = target.Top - 1
        .Width = target.Width + 5
        .Height = target.Height + 5
        .LinkedCell = target.Address

    End With

    Me.TempCombo.Activate
    Me.TempCombo.DropDown
End Sub

Private Sub TempCombo_Change()
    If Me.TempCombo.Visible = False Then
        Exit Sub
    End If
    
    Dim currentValue As String
    currentValue = Range(Me.TempCombo.LinkedCell).Value
    
    If Trim(currentValue & vbNullString) = vbNullString Then
        Me.TempCombo.ListFillRange = "=" & DATA_RANGE
    Else
        If Me.TempCombo.ListIndex = -1 Then
             Dim listCount As Integer
             listCount = write_matching_items(currentValue)
             Me.TempCombo.ListFillRange = "=" & HELP_COLUMN & "1:" & HELP_COLUMN & listCount
             Me.TempCombo.DropDown
        End If

    End If
End Sub


Private Function write_matching_items(currentValue As String) As Integer
    Dim xWs As Worksheet
    Set xWs = Application.ActiveSheet

    Dim cell As Range
    Dim c As Range
    Dim firstAddress As Variant
    Dim count As Integer
    count = 0
    xWs.Range(HELP_COLUMN & ":" & HELP_COLUMN).Delete
    With xWs.Range(DATA_RANGE)
        Set c = .Find(currentValue, LookIn:=xlValues)
        If Not c Is Nothing Then
            firstAddress = c.Address
            Do
              Set cell = xWs.Range(HELP_COLUMN & "$" & (count + 1))
              cell.Value = c.Value
              count = count + 1
             
              Set c = .FindNext(c)
              If c Is Nothing Then
                GoTo DoneFinding
              End If
           Loop While c.Address <> firstAddress
        End If
DoneFinding:
    End With
    
    write_matching_items = count

End Function

Private Sub TempCombo_KeyDown( _
                ByVal KeyCode As MSForms.ReturnInteger, _
                ByVal Shift As Integer)

    Select Case KeyCode
        Case 9  ' Tab key
            Application.ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Activate
        Case 13 ' Pause key
            Application.ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Activate
    End Select
End Sub

Notes:

1. ComboBoxe's MatchEntry must be set to 2 - fmMatchEntryNone. Don't forget to set ComboBox name to TempCombo
2. I am using listFillRange to set ComboBox options. The range must be continuous, so, matching items are stored in a help column.
3. I have tried accomplishing the same with ComboBox.addItem, but it turned out to be hard to repaint list box as user types