I am trying to make a estimating tool/take off tool in Excel. One sheet is my
"takeoff" sheet, it has all the materials i will use, how much of each, and
its price. On another sheet I have the full list of every possible material I
can use, and how much each costs.
I want to be able to start typing the type of material, eg- "Pipe" and all
of the various types would come up on a pulldown or something, then once the
correct pipe type is selected it enters the price and other information on my
takeoff sheet.

Is this possible in excel???? or do i have to make a database in Access???

a vlookup will do the rest of the job,some sort of dropdown will accomplish
the first.
How many items do you have.
I think you should make some categories so the dropdown is populated from a
category.I mean surely you can do better than Pipe?
water supply sewer stormwater copper galv water pipe down pipe pvc concrete
?????.
in the mean time this site on dependent drop downs might help

http://www.contextures.com/xlDataVal02.html
--
paul

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"Jay Adams" wrote:

I am trying to make a estimating tool/take off tool in Excel. One sheet is my
"takeoff" sheet, it has all the materials i will use, how much of each, and
its price. On another sheet I have the full list of every possible material I
can use, and how much each costs.
I want to be able to start typing the type of material, eg- "Pipe" and all
of the various types would come up on a pulldown or something, then once the
correct pipe type is selected it enters the price and other information on my
takeoff sheet.

Is this possible in excel???? or do i have to make a database in Access???

We have custom built two such estimating tools for clients.
List is ~600 items.
No problem with Excel.

"Jay Adams" wrote in message
...
I am trying to make a estimating tool/take off tool in Excel. One sheet is
my
"takeoff" sheet, it has all the materials i will use, how much of each,
and
its price. On another sheet I have the full list of every possible
material I
can use, and how much each costs.
I want to be able to start typing the type of material, eg- "Pipe" and
all
of the various types would come up on a pulldown or something, then once
the
correct pipe type is selected it enters the price and other information on
my
takeoff sheet.

Is this possible in excel???? or do i have to make a database in Access???

Thanks very much for your help, that site is a great resource. I really
appreciate it. I'm figuring it out now all right.