Calculating Categories relating to Financial info

[Guest]

I'm sorry if this question has been asked before - maybe you could point me to a useful excel resource online

Anyway, what I'm trying to create is a simple financial spreadsheet where I have a drop-down menu for different transactions
e
Date / <transaction drop down menu description (category)> / Amount / Typ
The drop down menu allows me to select defined names.
What I'd like to do is write a formula that sums up the 'Amount' of each Category in a separate section of the spreadsheet, so I know how much I'm spending on a particular section
I bet this is really easy but its identifying the category and then obtaining the cells value next to the category causing the problem

Phonetically, I'd like the formula to do this: "Find all cells containing 'Water Bill' (eg B2, B7, B8) and add the cell to the rights value (eg C2, C7, C8) to the previous 'Water Bill' cell"

Hope that lot makes sense :

Thanks for your hel

Paul.

 

[Dave Peterson]

For the dropdown boxes--take a look at data|validation.

For lots more info, take a look at Debra Dalgleish's site:
http://www.contextures.com/xlDataVal01.html

And then maybe you can use =sumif() in that other part of your worksheet, like:

=SUMIF(Sheet2!B:B,"water bill",Sheet2!C:C)

You may want to take a look at data|pivottables. You can get some really neat
summaries with just a little effort (after the learning curve):

Here are some links for pivottable info:

Debra Dalgleish's pictures at Jon Peltier's site:
http://www.geocities.com/jonpeltier/Excel/Pivots/pivottables.htm
And Debra's own site:
http://www.contextures.com/xlPivot01.html

John Walkenbach also has some at:
http://j-walk.com/ss/excel/files/general.htm
(look for Tony Gwynn's Hit Database)

Chip Pearson keeps Harald Staff's notes at:
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/pivots.htm

MS has some at (xl2000 and xl2002):
http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2000/XCrtPiv.aspx
http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/2002/articles/xlconPT101.aspx