Question about drop down boxes

[micdingwall]

Hey, im not that good at excel but I was wondering if someone can tell me if this following drop down box is doable.

So imagine a excel table with say the following info.

Name, DG Code, Class, weight , unit of meas



Now what i want to do is make the "Name" Cell into a drop down box where i choose one item out of the list, then when i select for example shaving cream have the remainder of the columns I.E. class weight etc automaticaly fill in the relivent information that ive associated with the item shaving cream.

Hope i explained it right :P

The idea is to be able to quickly compile all the above information into a table by merely selecting the "name" of the product so i can print it out.

Any help is appreciated since i can only create basic drop down boxes and dont know if this is even achievable in excel 2002

[arthurbr]

Hi and welcome to the board

Does this link provide help ?

[micdingwall]

Hmm no i dont think that its quite what im after, though it seems to be a step closer.

It should in theory anyways, mean when a person chooses a product name from a drop down list, it fills in all of the other table catagories for the product that was just selected. So they dont have to go and fill in all that data in manualy every single time they need to print the infomation off (might get dreadfuly repetitive otherwise not to mention time consuming :P ). The way that link is showing it seems you still have to choose all the info from other drop lists, except its slowly narrowing the info down to one single item.

This is for a Dangerous Goods Documentation sheet im doing in excel might see if i can post a screen capture of it when i get to the work computer to better explain my needs. But i don't know if i can even insert a excel table into this post let alone a screen shot, anyone know if it can be done if so how as i dont see a option for it.

I did consider a filter for it. But the filter dosnt work quite the way i wanted. This table is meant to be incredibly simple to fill out (for near computer illiterate users lol) and the filter just adds unwanted complications hehe.

[G0liath02]

Hi micdingwall,

What you are after is quite doable and straight forward and is a good way for you to learn a few basic excel functions.

Assuming you already have a table with all the fields you are after, I'll put what it's called in excel (so you can use the inbuilt excel help to guide you )and then some advice on how to do it.

0. Put the item name in the left most column and sort alphabetically (AZ) button on your toolbar.

1. Name a Range: Highlight all the Item names and then go Insert--> Name-->Define. Type "ItemNames" into the box.

2. Drop Down validation: Select the cells you want to have a drop down in then click Data--> Validation. Click on the allow drop down and choose "List". For the source type "=ItemNames".

3. Vlookup Function: You can populate all the other fields by using Vlookups.
=Vlookup(drop down cell, the entire goods table, the column that has the value you want to return, FALSE). Ensure your Table has $ eg. $D$9:$E$11

4. Copy your vlookup function and change the column you want to return.

Hope this helps.

[micdingwall]

Cheers sounds promising ill try it tommorow at work