Let's say I want my table to have a column Color. The data type is Short Text. I intend this to have values like Red, Blue, and Green. However, I don't want values like Sugarplum.
In fact, I know that in this particular able, the values can only be Red, Blue, or Green - not even Yellow. So I would like the user to see an error when he tries to type in Yellow. In fact, I would like there to be drop down in each cell from which the user can select Red, Blue, or Green.
What is the simplest way of doing this?
To restrict the values of your column, you might want to add them in a Validation Rule in the table design > propereties for that field.
You can simply use a rule like
(this does allow all upper and lower case compositions of the same word, like RED, as well).
To show the possibilities in a drop down list, again go into the properties in the design view and in the lookup-tab, you can choose for 'list box' and in the Row Source Type property select 'value list'. In the Row Source property, add the colors you want.