A drop-down list is a field where you click the arrow on the right or press the DOWN ARROW key and choose an item in the resulting list. You can make only one selection in a drop-down list.

If items in a drop-down list are hierarchically related to each other, these relations are indicated by the appropriate indentation and a colon between the items.

The advantage of drop-down lists is that you can see all available items and can make your selection quickly. However, if you have a large number of items, you have to scroll up and down a long list making sure to select the correct item.

As you can see, in read-only mode, a drop-down list presents its value as a simple field or background text. There is no indication that it is actually a list.

To find the necessary item in a drop-down list

Points to Remember

•To open the list, click or tab to the drop-down list.

•To select the necessary option, click the item or use the arrow keys.

If there is an adjacent command button next to the drop-down list, you must click the button or navigate to it and press ENTER to complete the selection.

•In long lists, you can scroll up and down the list.

Important: For full keyboard accessibility in drop-down lists, you must enable Accessible Mode. For more details, refer to Enabling Accessibility Mode.

•In Accessible mode, use the arrow keys to select an option, press the TAB key to navigate to the go button, then press ENTER to make your selection.

•Categories or lookup table items in a list that are displayed in gray are inactive. If accessibility settings are enabled, (inactive) is added to the item name and they are not displayed in gray.

•Inactivated items must not be added to records, so they are not displayed in lists that are used to add items to records. If a category or lookup table item that you are familiar with is not displayed in a list, it may have been inactivated.

•If search screens include category lists or lookup tables for the type of record, any inactive items are displayed in gray. You can select these items to search for records that had the item selected before it was inactivated.

•If an inactive item was added to the record before it was made inactive, you can save the record without changing the item's value. If you accidentally change the value and save the record, you cannot restore the inactive value to the record, but you can contact your administrator to temporarily activate the needed item.