I just saw this today and had the same issue. An easy fix or hack that may not be too dynamic is to just add "Select Item" as one of the items on the range.
This works if you are starting off and you choose the "Select Item" text from the drop down menu and then copy it down.
I know it doesn't solve dynamic issues but it was a simple fix for my template.

Thank you.
Miguel

On Thursday, November 7, 2002 at 2:42:08 PM UTC+1, Mary Birrell wrote:
This seems pretty basic, but I cannot seem to find
information in Excel Help or when I searched this News
Group...perhaps I'm searching wrong!?

My QUESTION: How do you set a drop down list (which is
created using data validation) to be populated with a
default value?

What I want to do: I want to 'prod' the user to "select"
a value from a list. For example:

I have a list called "Regions". Valid values a

(Select Region)
AP
Canada
EMEA
Japan
LA
US

I do data-validation in a cell, using the LIST option and
referring to my list. I want to default the value in the
drop down box to the first value in the list, "(Select
Region)". How do I get excel to allow me to default a
value from my list in the drop down box? I have seen
this in other spreadsheets, but cannot tell how it was
done...

Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks.