How to create a dynamic hyperlink selection via data validation?

[SA-El77]

Hi all, I have a spreadsheet where I manage research references and some stuff from my project.The sheet contains multiple hyperlink buttons pointing to various medical research databases, clinical trial results, and our main platform resources (including for our primary documentation).

Currently, I click individual hyperlink buttons to open the target pages in my browser, but I’d like to streamline this workflow.
I’m trying to create a data validation dropdown in a specific cell that would display all available hyperlinks as selectable options, allowing me to simply choose from the list rather than hunting for the right button.I’m planning to create a “reference sheet” with hyperlinks organized in a column (either as text URLs or hyperlink objects), then use that range as the source for data validation in my main worksheet.

I have btw several questions about it :

• When using text-based hyperlinks in the validation source, the dropdown shows the URL text but doesn’t trigger the link when selected
• When using LibreOffice hyperlink objects as validation source, the dropdown appears empty and rejects any selection as “invalid entry”
• The validation seems to only accept literal text matches, not the hyperlink functionality

Has anyone successfully implemented dynamic hyperlink selection through data validation in LibreOffice Calc? I’m wondering if I need to combine this with a macro or if there’s a native solution I’m missing.

[JohnSUN]

Welcome!
I’m not sure I understand the scenario you’re trying to implement. If you already have a list of links, why not click directly in it? After all, as far as I understand, the selection in the drop-down list will be the same length as the original list? In that case, what’s the benefit of a drop-down list? A quick search by the first letters? On the other hand, there will be more actions for the user - first double-click on the list to select the desired link, and then click again to open the browser. I would suggest making the original list of two columns - the text name of the resource and a link to it next to it. In the drop-down list (for example, in C2) display text descriptions for the selection, and in the neighboring cell use something like
=HYPERLINK(VLOOKUP(C2;your_list;2;0);"Click to open")