Hello,
I entered in a workbook 5 sheets containing 5 different
recipes in each sheet. each sheet contained, in column a; volume of
ingredient,
column b name/description of ingredient. in the last sheet (6) I listed, in
column a, all ingredients used in all recipes (sheets), and in column b I
want to have a formula which will return how much (sum) of that
ingredient I will need based on a table in sheet 6 where I can select
(via drop down list) which and/or how many recipes (sheets) I am selecting.

Thanks in advance,

Jay

Hi Jay,
Can you make this easier to understand what you have
and what you want. Should we care that you have the first
five sheets (five recipes) for a product. Do you have a
drop down or are you trying to create a drop down.

If the ingredients in Sheet 1 to 5 and the totals in Sheet 6
are all in the same rows, the totals in Sheet6 can be
written as follows: (these are called 3D references in HELP)

sheet6 cell D3:
=SUM(sheet1:sheet5!D3)
which is the equivalent of
=sheet1:D3 + sheet2:D3 + sheet3:d3 + sheet4:d3 + sheet5:d3

Note the physical order of the worksheet tabs must be
Sheet1 ... Sheet5 and all sheets inclusively in the range will be included.
i.e.
=SUM('Sheet one:sheet 5'!D3))

That leaves a subject of VLOOKUP or MATCH which doesn't appear
to be mentioned in the question. Since it probably is significant see
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/vlookup.htm
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/lookups.htm
---
HTH,
David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel [site changed Nov. 2001]
My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm

"Jaladino" wrote in message ...
Hello,
I entered in a workbook 5 sheets containing 5 different
recipes in each sheet. each sheet contained, in column a; volume of
ingredient,
column b name/description of ingredient. in the last sheet (6) I listed, in
column a, all ingredients used in all recipes (sheets), and in column b I
want to have a formula which will return how much (sum) of that
ingredient I will need based on a table in sheet 6 where I can select
(via drop down list) which and/or how many recipes (sheets) I am selecting.

Thanks in advance,

Jay