Dropdown list for populating data from other sheet

[raghavfastest]

hi,

im trying to summarize/extract data from the data sheet into a single row by means of a drop down list. That is to say i've got a customer list and my service levels for them are listed on the sheet. now in another sheet im trying to create a dropdown list (same workbook) whereby im(or anyone else) is able to choose specific customer (instead of sifting through thousands of rows) and get to see the data relevant to that customer only.
i've been able to create the named list and put it in the dropdown list. but that is as far as i could go. im not able to populate the cells with the data from the data sheet as per the selection from the drop down list. have attached a sample workbook to clarify wht exactly is the problme im facing.

hlp guys. Plz.

[DonkeyOte]

In all honesty you're not really helped by the layout of your data insofar as you have separate tables (Score, CRM) -- you would be best served storing your data in a contiguous range with an additional field that flagged type - ie Score / CRM adjacent to Customer... disposing of separate table approach -- you would then be able to apply a basic filter to your Data sheet and dispose of Summary sheet altogether -- filtering on Customer -- all records for Customer would display (all others being hidden) and adjacent to Customer you would have details of type (Score,CRM etc...)

Anyway... using your existing set up per your file I would advise you first name your tables on Data sheet such that:

A3:H13: _Score
A17:H27: _CRM

Summary sheet

B5: =VLOOKUP($A$5,_Score,COLUMNS($A5:B5),0)
copy across to H5

copy B5 to B8 but change _Score to _CRM - copy across to H.

Check out XL Help for more info on VLOOKUP... as your data ranges change you will most likely to adapt the above so it is important you understand how the concept of VLOOKUP etc... I would also recommend you look at INDEX & MATCH in help also.

[raghavfastest]

Thnks a ton, the vlookup thing works perfectly fine. How dumb of me to not to think of it. :-)

Completely agree with your opinion about storing the data in contiguous range but this is just a fraction of data only. Have more thn 8000 rows in the original file so doing a filter search becomes cumbersome at times as excel takes quite a lot of time to filter.

can you also explain the index & match functions. im not that conversant with excel, more of an advanced basic user. also is there a way keep the drop-down button of validation list always visible so that any one reviewing the sheet knows tht there is one instead of when the cell being active.