Data validation list entries all on one line in Excel

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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.

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Cause

This behavior occurs when the following conditions are true:

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.
The macro for data validation uses that list separator to specify the valid cell entries.
The macro code specifies the list explicitly, instead of pointing to a cell range where the valid entries are listed.

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Workaround

When you create a macro to specify a specific list of valid entries, always use a comma (,) as your list separator.

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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.

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