Excel worksheet lookup

[sleddude]

I am in sales and need to make a worksheet for quoting pricing at shows. We
have 5 main categories of product, about 2-6 specific products in each
category, then a list of accessories for each product. In some cases
accessories are required, in others they are optional. many of the
accessories apply to multiple product.

What I would like to do is develop a spreadsheet with dropdown lists or
prompts that would start with a choice of category, then list only the
products in that category, then just the required accessories, than the
optional accessories. (each one of these options would have multiple columns
of info such as part number, description, and retail cost.) The spreadsheet
would then show a quote of only the items included in the price quote.

I don't know where to begin, if anyone has any input on which functions will
do what I need, let me know and I will start studying up. I am a salesman,
not a programmer.

Thanks,

 

[jlclyde]

I am in sales and need to make a worksheet for quoting pricing at shows. We
have 5 main categories of product, about 2-6 specific products in each
category, then a list of accessories for each product.  In some cases
accessories are required, in others they are optional. many of the
accessories apply to multiple product.

What I would like to do is develop a spreadsheet with dropdown lists or
prompts that would start with a choice of category, then list only the
products in that category, then just the required accessories, than the
optional accessories. (each one of these options would have multiple columns
of info such as part number, description, and retail cost.)  The spreadsheet
would then show a quote of only the items included in the price quote.

I don't know where to begin, if anyone has any input on which functions will
do what I need, let me know and I will start studying up.  I am a salesman,
not a programmer.

Thanks,

I am not a programmer either, but I use Data validation alot. You can
change this to a list and select cells or type in your own list. What
I do is put in an IF statement in here so that IF(certain cell meets
this criteria then, RangeA, IFnot then I can add more ifs up to 7 to
chose the range. I would also name the ranges so it will be easier to
look at and fix later. For each one of your named ranges I would put
them in a list so that if you add more to them they will automatically
expand.

With all of that being said, If I had my list on sheet one with Prod1-
Prod 5 from A1 - A5. I would highlight these cells and right click
and say create list. then I would go to the insert button and chose
Name and then I would call it Prod and select the cells. then in a
cell that I want to be able to chose from these options I would go to
data/ validation/ list/ I would enter Prod. Now anytiem you click on
that cell, your list of products will come up. From here you can add
your if staements.

Later,
Jay