Drop down selections and combining fields.

[Guest]

I am new to excel but have a project that has to be done so here goes.
Column 1 needs a dropdown list of Reason Codes (i.e. travel, lodging,
meals, etc)
Column 2 needs a dropdown list of Activity Codes (Management, Training, etc.)
Other columns will have text descriptions and amounts for totaling.

The objective of the Columns with drop downs is so we can prevent someone
from using a Reason Code with an Activity Code that doesn't make sense. So
Say I select Travel, I then go to the next column and the dropdown has only
the codes that are valid for travel.

Next objective
Taking the combined codes (say Reason is Travel and Activity is Management)
I would tally up all those codes, then move on to the next code (say Travel
and Meals)

Each person would have one spreadsheet. Later on I might want to add up all
the spreadsheets using Excell for a grand total of all expense code combos,
but for now, I think I have enough on my plate just to do this.

Can anyone help me?

 

[Tom Ogilvy]

Use data=>Validation using the list option for the dropdowns

Use a pivot Table (Data=>Pivot Table Report)
to get summarized numerical information

 

[Guest]

Thank you for answering, I was very pleased to get a reply. The problem is,
I don't know how to create a dropdown list. Online help says I can use a
separate worksheet in the workbook but nothing helps. I can't get it to
work. I followed the steps exactly and so did 2 other people.

Step one - I need to put the lists in the worksheet then I need to figure
out the formulas. Someone told me I needed Macro training to do this. If
so, I'm already screwed because I'm sure I don't know enough.

If anyone can suggest a really well written book that you have found
personally valuable, please let me know. There are so many to choose from,
and I can't buy them all - but I'm willing to shell out money for help.

 

[Debra Dalgleish]

There are instructions here for creating dependent data validation lists:

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

And some sample files here:

http://www.contextures.com/excelfiles.html

Under Data Validation, look for 'DV0037 - Dependent Lists Country City'