Excel 2003

Hi Margaret

Thank you for your question; and welcome to the forum.

You can do this if you put your entries for the dropdown list items that people are able to choose from, each in a separate cell immediately above (i.e. in the same column) where the first cell with the dropdown list is in your spreadsheet.

Set up data validation with a List allowable and then use the Source box to select the cells containing the dropdown items, then click OK.

When you start typing the name of an item which is in the list, Excel's AutoComplete should display the rest of the word for you and you can press Enter to have the word appear in the cell.

Note you can hide the rows which contain the items you have selected as the Source for your dropdown list to make the spreadsheet a bit tidier.

There is a further explanation of this on the following web page, however please note the link to the example doesn't seem to work:
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Excel-1059/Auto-Complete-w-Data.htm

I hope this helps.
Amanda