A drop-down menu is an easy option to display a range of choices. Initially, only one choice is displayed, such as "File," "Edit" or "View." When the user clicks on it, more choices within that category are presented. A drop-down list has two states: active and inactive. When the drop-down list is inactive, only one value is displayed. When the list is active, a set of options is presented. When the user chooses one value out of the list, the control is reverted to its inactive state wherein the selected value is displayed or enacted.

Drop-down lists are largely used to interact with graphical user interfaces.