I have an excel spreadsheet with 800+ names. I need to do a random drawing
to select 10 names for a prize. What is the easiest way to do this?

One way is to use a formula like this on 10 cells of the same sheet with the
names:
=INDIRECT("A" & INT(RAND()*800)+1)

Where 800 can be changed to the actual number of rows. Every time you
calculate (F9) it will show a different set of values extracted from column A
(they can repeat, there is no mechanism with this formula to prevent it).
Remember to copy and paste values if you use it, as it will change every time
the sheet is calculated.

Hope this helps,
Miguel.

"DD" wrote:

I have an excel spreadsheet with 800+ names. I need to do a random drawing
to select 10 names for a prize. What is the easiest way to do this?

Try this:

Assume your names are in the range A1:A800.

Enter this formula in B1 and copy down to B800:

=RAND()

Now, select both column A and B and do a sort on column B (either ascending
or descending, it doesn't matter).

Use the first 10 rows of column A for your random picks.

Biff

"DD" wrote in message
...
I have an excel spreadsheet with 800+ names. I need to do a random drawing
to select 10 names for a prize. What is the easiest way to do this?