First, the bad news:
Yes, in a VLOOKUP() you are trying to match a known value on the sheet with
a matching value in the first column of a table somewhere else.

The way this would typically be handled would be for you to have a column on
your detail estimate sheet where you would select some unique product/service
identifier that also appears in your table. Quite often you can use Data --
Validation with the entries of that first column in the table as the List for
the validation. If your tables are on some other sheet, you'll need to give
a name to the entries in that first column so you can set up the data
validation.

Then, with the data validation set up, you can put a VLOOKUP() formula in
cells on the same row that might look something like this (assuming your
first product/service entry is in A2)
=IF(A2<"",VLOOKUP(A2,'Demo-CSA Database'!$C$3:$F$5000,2,False),"")
What that says is:
If A2 is not blank, then take the value in A2 and find it in the first
column (C) of the table on 'Demo-CSA Database' sheet that goes from C3 to
F5000 and if you find the match, return the value from the second column of
that table (column D) - oh, and the items in column C of the table don't have
to be in order.

Now, if you were to select all of the cells on the 'Demo-CSA Database'
sheet in C3 down to C5000 and while they are selected, type in a name like
ProductList in the 'Name Box' (that area right above the "A" column
identifier that shows what cell you are in) and end it with the [Enter] key,
then that group of cells becomes Named, or is now a Named Range, and you can
use it to set up Data Validation on the details sheet:

Select the cells you want to be able to choose items from on that sheet and
use Data --- Validation and choose LIST as the "Allow" type entry, and in
the "Source" entry area that will then appear, type this formula:
=ControlList

and you're on your way.

Hope this helps.


"Merlin" wrote:

I am creating an estimating worksheet and I would like to know the best way
to get data from my database worksheets into my detail estimate worksheet.
My thoughts were to utilize vlookup and place if I place a "1" in a certain
column, have that row of data pull into the estimate detail spreadsheet.

I tried to use Vlookup but it would not work for me =VLOOKUP(1,'Demo-CSA
Database'!C3:C5000,2,'Demo-CSA Database'!$C$3:$C$5000,false)
I know this is wrong. can someone help me figure this out? Do I have to
have matching data in my estimate spreadsheet? Is there a better function to
do this.

I want the data for items that I pick, by placing a 1 in column J to be
automatically pulled into the estimate sheet.