I'm trying to prepare a spreadsheet for a client that will compute into which
group a person should be assigned. Even if the assignment is made in error
(data upon which computation is made is in error), once a person has been
assigned, they must stay assigned, even if the data is later corrected. A
logical way to do that would be to replace the assignment formula with its
result, but I can't find any way to do that without copy and paste, which is
no good for an automatic, user-proof product. Any reasonably simple solution
would be fine, doesn't have to convert a formula. I have already thought of
having the user copy whatever he sees in one column to the next one, but is
there a way to do this without human intervention? Any way to have a formula
one-use-only? Thanks for any ideas!

Have you thought of using a macro that will copy the cells and paste as
values automatically for the user?

"Allan Editor" wrote:

I'm trying to prepare a spreadsheet for a client that will compute into which
group a person should be assigned. Even if the assignment is made in error
(data upon which computation is made is in error), once a person has been
assigned, they must stay assigned, even if the data is later corrected. A
logical way to do that would be to replace the assignment formula with its
result, but I can't find any way to do that without copy and paste, which is
no good for an automatic, user-proof product. Any reasonably simple solution
would be fine, doesn't have to convert a formula. I have already thought of
having the user copy whatever he sees in one column to the next one, but is
there a way to do this without human intervention? Any way to have a formula
one-use-only? Thanks for any ideas!

Thanks for the suggestion. I am familiar with macros in Word but not in
Excel. Didn't know that could be done. I will try that if I can't find a
simpler solution. Can a macro be set to run a single time and self-destruct?
Or if it runs again later, will it show an error message if it finds no
formula in the cell? (Probably not.) Thanks again!

"Forrest" wrote:

Have you thought of using a macro that will copy the cells and paste as
values automatically for the user?

"Allan Editor" wrote:

I'm trying to prepare a spreadsheet for a client that will compute into which
group a person should be assigned. Even if the assignment is made in error
(data upon which computation is made is in error), once a person has been
assigned, they must stay assigned, even if the data is later corrected. A
logical way to do that would be to replace the assignment formula with its
result, but I can't find any way to do that without copy and paste, which is
no good for an automatic, user-proof product. Any reasonably simple solution
would be fine, doesn't have to convert a formula. I have already thought of
having the user copy whatever he sees in one column to the next one, but is
there a way to do this without human intervention? Any way to have a formula
one-use-only? Thanks for any ideas!

Although I haven't tried it myself you can use functions in your macro, for
example you could use an IF function to verify that the cell has a formula or
not before copying it and pasting it as a value.

"Allan Editor" wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion. I am familiar with macros in Word but not in
Excel. Didn't know that could be done. I will try that if I can't find a
simpler solution. Can a macro be set to run a single time and self-destruct?
Or if it runs again later, will it show an error message if it finds no
formula in the cell? (Probably not.) Thanks again!

"Forrest" wrote:

Have you thought of using a macro that will copy the cells and paste as
values automatically for the user?

"Allan Editor" wrote:

I'm trying to prepare a spreadsheet for a client that will compute into which
group a person should be assigned. Even if the assignment is made in error
(data upon which computation is made is in error), once a person has been
assigned, they must stay assigned, even if the data is later corrected. A
logical way to do that would be to replace the assignment formula with its
result, but I can't find any way to do that without copy and paste, which is
no good for an automatic, user-proof product. Any reasonably simple solution
would be fine, doesn't have to convert a formula. I have already thought of
having the user copy whatever he sees in one column to the next one, but is
there a way to do this without human intervention? Any way to have a formula
one-use-only? Thanks for any ideas!