In answer to your first question, select the cell you want to have a
drop down in and click on Data | Validation then under the Allow
section you can choose List, and from there you can specify where your
list occurs.

For your second question you can use the MATCH function to get Excel
to recognise a word, but you can also use VLOOKUP, SEARCH, FIND etc.,
so you will need to look in Excel Help to see which of these are
appropriate in your case.

Hope this helps.

Pete

On May 4, 10:41*am, Mick wrote:
I would like to know 2 things.

Firstly, how do I create a drop down list.

Secondly, how can I format a cell to recognise a word on the spreadsheeet
and then calculate the number on the same line. I would like it to
consolidate several figures and then give me at total, but it will need to
recognise the word first.

Cheers....

MickM