I use an Excel sheet to capture brainstormed ideas, and then break down the
tasks involved.

I have it set up now where, say, A2:A4 is a merged cell for the idea, and
B2, B3, and B4 are bordered off for the tasks. C2, C3, and C4 have list boxes
for priorities and D2, D3, and D4, have list boxes for to whom the task is
assigned.

Trouble is, some ideas need two tasks, some need four (or more).

I'd like to have the user fill in cell A2 with the idea (I have it on
AutoFit if they're verbose), and then B2 for the first task, C2 with the
priority box, and D2 with the assigned employee.

If there is a second task to be added to that idea, I'd like there to be an
"Add New Task" button, which will:
i) add B3 for a new task
ii) add C3 with the proper list-picking validation
iii) add D3 with the proper list-picking validation
iv) merge A2 with A3 so it's all one big master row.

.... and so on.

Thoughts?

I'm thinking the situationwould be easier to solve if you changed the
structure of the worksheet so that the "big ideas" were in
horizontally merged cells, not vertically merged ones. For instance,
if you put your "big idea" in cells A2:D2 (merged) then you could
simply copy/insert a full row to expand the big idea. -- a comparative
piece of cake.

/ Tyla /

On Mar 19, 8:57 pm, RJB wrote:
I use an Excel sheet to capture brainstormed ideas, and then break down the
tasks involved.

I have it set up now where, say, A2:A4 is a merged cell for the idea, and
B2, B3, and B4 are bordered off for the tasks. C2, C3, and C4 have list boxes
for priorities and D2, D3, and D4, have list boxes for to whom the task is
assigned.

Trouble is, some ideas need two tasks, some need four (or more).

I'd like to have the user fill in cell A2 with the idea (I have it on
AutoFit if they're verbose), and then B2 for the first task, C2 with the
priority box, and D2 with the assigned employee.

If there is a second task to be added to that idea, I'd like there to be an
"Add New Task" button, which will:
i) add B3 for a new task
ii) add C3 with the proper list-picking validation
iii) add D3 with the proper list-picking validation
iv) merge A2 with A3 so it's all one big master row.

... and so on.

Thoughts?

For a wide variety of reasons, that's not doable.

Not the least of which is, I don't have control over design... Just function!

(We have a coupla hundred thousand of these printed, but we're trying to put
an identical form on Sharepoint... We have several similar worksheets that
are all gatefold on paper, so to go from vertical to horizontal now would be
very confusing. Probably not too confusing for the thousands of users, but
wayyyy too confusing for the guy paying for the project, if you catch my
drift.)

I was toying with doing this in Word with protected forms, but I need to
have separate sheets with the "big ideas" on the left-hand column, with
different grids along the right of each.

"Tyla" wrote:

I'm thinking the situationwould be easier to solve if you changed the
structure of the worksheet so that the "big ideas" were in
horizontally merged cells, not vertically merged ones. For instance,
if you put your "big idea" in cells A2:D2 (merged) then you could
simply copy/insert a full row to expand the big idea. -- a comparative
piece of cake.

/ Tyla /

On Mar 19, 8:57 pm, RJB wrote:
I use an Excel sheet to capture brainstormed ideas, and then break down the
tasks involved.

I have it set up now where, say, A2:A4 is a merged cell for the idea, and
B2, B3, and B4 are bordered off for the tasks. C2, C3, and C4 have list boxes
for priorities and D2, D3, and D4, have list boxes for to whom the task is
assigned.

Trouble is, some ideas need two tasks, some need four (or more).

I'd like to have the user fill in cell A2 with the idea (I have it on
AutoFit if they're verbose), and then B2 for the first task, C2 with the
priority box, and D2 with the assigned employee.

If there is a second task to be added to that idea, I'd like there to be an
"Add New Task" button, which will:
i) add B3 for a new task
ii) add C3 with the proper list-picking validation
iii) add D3 with the proper list-picking validation
iv) merge A2 with A3 so it's all one big master row.

... and so on.

Thoughts?

Nice to have the responsiblity without the authority, isn't it?

OK, Plan B would be to have a named range squirreled away in a safe
place to use as a template for the Column B-D cells. Each of these
cells would have the formatting, drop-downs, validation, etc. already
defined for them -- using either named ranges or absolute cell
addresses.
Next, put a button on the toolbar (or a floating toolbar, or -- worst
case -- on the worksheet itself) which will insert a new row into the
worksheet and copy the template cells into columns B-D of that row.
(Making the template itself a full row might be a shade easier). The
VBA behind this would have to validate that the active cell is in a
valid location for a new "idea" row shouldn't be a big deal.
Or not...

/ Tyla /




On Mar 20, 6:40 am, RJB wrote:
For a wide variety of reasons, that's not doable.

Not the least of which is, I don't have control over design... Just function!

(We have a coupla hundred thousand of these printed, but we're trying to put
an identical form on Sharepoint... We have several similar worksheets that
are all gatefold on paper, so to go from vertical to horizontal now would be
very confusing. Probably not too confusing for the thousands of users, but
wayyyy too confusing for the guy paying for the project, if you catch my
drift.)

I was toying with doing this in Word with protected forms, but I need to
have separate sheets with the "big ideas" on the left-hand column, with
different grids along the right of each.

"Tyla" wrote:
I'm thinking the situationwould be easier to solve if you changed the
structure of the worksheet so that the "big ideas" were in
horizontally merged cells, not vertically merged ones. For instance,
if you put your "big idea" in cells A2:D2 (merged) then you could
simply copy/insert a full row to expand the big idea. -- a comparative
piece of cake.

/Tyla/

On Mar 19, 8:57 pm, RJB wrote:
I use anExcelsheet to capture brainstormed ideas, and then break down the
tasks involved.

I have it set up now where, say, A2:A4 is a merged cell for the idea, and
B2, B3, and B4 are bordered off for the tasks. C2, C3, and C4 have list boxes
for priorities and D2, D3, and D4, have list boxes for to whom the task is
assigned.

Trouble is, some ideas need two tasks, some need four (or more).

I'd like to have the user fill in cell A2 with the idea (I have it on
AutoFit if they're verbose), and then B2 for the first task, C2 with the
priority box, and D2 with the assigned employee.

If there is a second task to be added to that idea, I'd like there to be an
"Add New Task" button, which will:
i) add B3 for a new task
ii) add C3 with the proper list-picking validation
iii) add D3 with the proper list-picking validation
iv) merge A2 with A3 so it's all one big master row.

... and so on.

Thoughts?