Here's one approach. Let's say I have an external Excel spreadsheet, where the first page contains a list of items I want to use to populate the dropdown.

In Access, I select File/Get External Data/Link Tables
In the dialog box, I select the Excel file type from the dropdown and point to the Excel file.

I now have a link table in Access that points to the Excel sheet. Now, I can write a simple query for it, and then use that query as the source for the dropdown.

If this works for you, there's no need to use ADO or recordset. The Access link will take care of it.

S