Symptoms
When you run a Microsoft Excel macro or other programming code that sets data validation rules for a cell as a list of valid entries, all of the items in the data validation list on the cell appear on one line.
Cause
This behavior occurs when the following conditions are true:
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The List Separator setting (under Regional Options in Control Panel) is something other than a Comma (,). For example, if your locale setting is Germany, your list separator is a semicolon.
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The macro for data validation uses that list separator to specify the valid cell entries.
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The macro code specifies the list explicitly, instead of pointing to a cell range where the valid entries are listed.
Workaround
When you create a macro to specify a specific list of valid entries, always use a comma (,) as your list separator.
More Information
In Excel, Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications always uses the comma as the list separator. This allows you to run a macro on computers that have different locale settings, without having to edit your code.
When passing a comma delimited array using VBA (XLValidateList Formula1) for data validation a 255 character limitation applies.
When you run a macro that uses a list separator to change a setting, the macro converts the comma to the local regional list separator. For example, this occurs if the macro creates a data validation list, or enters a formula in a cell by using the Range.Formula(number1,number2) command.
References
For more informationabout data validation in Excel, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
211485 Description and examples of data validation in Excel
