I have been getting pretty good with excel but there are things that I just
do not understand.

I have a cell that I enter a name. Some of the names are long and I would
like to make the entry quicker. What is the best way? I think it is a drop
down box but I just do not understand how to get started. Do I make a list?
What? Help!

A drop down would work. Go to Data Validation Settings Allow List
Source Select the list of names OK. Or for the Source you can enter the
names in the Source box separated by a coma (no space) or you can name the
list you have on the worksheet someplace, say name it MyList and then in the
source box enter =MyList.

HTH
Regards,
Howard

"Capt. Andy" <Capt. wrote in message
...
I have been getting pretty good with excel but there are things that I just
do not understand.

I have a cell that I enter a name. Some of the names are long and I would
like to make the entry quicker. What is the best way? I think it is a drop
down box but I just do not understand how to get started. Do I make a
list?
What? Help!

Use Excel's buit-in Data Validation dropdown list.

Find the how-to's here.

http://www.contextures.on.ca/xlDataVal01.html


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:43:03 -0700, Capt. Andy <Capt.
wrote:

I have been getting pretty good with excel but there are things that I just
do not understand.

I have a cell that I enter a name. Some of the names are long and I would
like to make the entry quicker. What is the best way? I think it is a drop
down box but I just do not understand how to get started. Do I make a list?
What? Help!

OK! I have my drop-down list working. Now, each name in the drop-down box
(these are boats) has a specific number attached to it (official vessel
number). I would like for that number to pop up in another cell when the name
of the vessel is entered. I tried insertname but am unable to make it work
as yet.

"Capt. Andy" wrote:

I have been getting pretty good with excel but there are things that I just
do not understand.

I have a cell that I enter a name. Some of the names are long and I would
like to make the entry quicker. What is the best way? I think it is a drop
down box but I just do not understand how to get started. Do I make a list?
What? Help!

Hey Skipper...Capt.

Looks like you need to do a Vlookup and a list of the boat names in one
column and the boat number in the next column. Your vlookup formula would
look something like this...

=VLOOKUP(A1,F1:G20,2,0)

Where A1 is where you have the dropdown
Where column F is the list of the names of the boats
Where column G is the list of the respective boat numbers

HTH
Regards,
Howard

"Capt. Andy" <Capt. wrote in message
...
I have been getting pretty good with excel but there are things that I just
do not understand.

I have a cell that I enter a name. Some of the names are long and I would
like to make the entry quicker. What is the best way? I think it is a drop
down box but I just do not understand how to get started. Do I make a
list?
What? Help!

Thanks, Howard,
Now I need to be able to attach a number associated with the name in the
drop-down in another cell. I have been studying hard and I am thinking the
VLOOKUP function might be the way to go. In other words the name in the
drop-down is
"M/V North Wind" and her offical number is "123456". North Wind was in the
drop-down and in the ajacent cell her official number would pop up. I have
hundreds of boats that I am dealing with. I realize that I could just add the
number to the name when I enter the name for the drop-down but it is not as
clean looking. And not nearly as cool.

Thanks for your help,
Capt. Andy

"L. Howard Kittle" wrote:

A drop down would work. Go to Data Validation Settings Allow List
Source Select the list of names OK. Or for the Source you can enter the
names in the Source box separated by a coma (no space) or you can name the
list you have on the worksheet someplace, say name it MyList and then in the
source box enter =MyList.

HTH
Regards,
Howard

"Capt. Andy" <Capt. wrote in message
...
I have been getting pretty good with excel but there are things that I just
do not understand.

I have a cell that I enter a name. Some of the names are long and I would
like to make the entry quicker. What is the best way? I think it is a drop
down box but I just do not understand how to get started. Do I make a
list?
What? Help!

Howard,
It is all working. I thank you very much. I probably woul have taken me
forever to get the formula correct. Now all I have to do is do an 'If'
stament to get rid of the #N/A. Also in all my looking around I thought I saw
somthing about about getting to the name in the drop-down quicker. At this
time I have 158 names and it is still growing. That is lotsa scrolling.

Again, Thanks
Capt. Andy

"L. Howard Kittle" wrote:

Hey Skipper...Capt.

Looks like you need to do a Vlookup and a list of the boat names in one
column and the boat number in the next column. Your vlookup formula would
look something like this...

=VLOOKUP(A1,F1:G20,2,0)

Where A1 is where you have the dropdown
Where column F is the list of the names of the boats
Where column G is the list of the respective boat numbers

HTH
Regards,
Howard

"Capt. Andy" <Capt. wrote in message
...
I have been getting pretty good with excel but there are things that I just
do not understand.

I have a cell that I enter a name. Some of the names are long and I would
like to make the entry quicker. What is the best way? I think it is a drop
down box but I just do not understand how to get started. Do I make a
list?
What? Help!