probably very simple

[mhuntoon]

I'm trying to set up a simple spreadsheet of medical expenses. I'd like to
be able to type a doctors name into one cell and automatically have excel
enter the mileage into another cell. I know I'd have to put the information
in somewhere, but I just don't know where to start. Combined, our family of
5 has about 6 doctors/specialists that we see on a regular basis, so this
shouldn't be too difficult (I hope).

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Frank Kabel]

Hi
to give you a starting point:
1. Setup a table with the doctor names and the mileages. Lets call this
sheet 'data'. It should have the following layout:
A B
1 Name mileage
2 Doc1 20
3 Doc2 23
......

2. Highlight this data range and define a name for this: Goto 'Insert -
Name - Define'. Let's say you give this data range the name 'doclist'

3. Now go on your entry sheet and create a drop-down listbox for the
doctornames:
- goto 'Data - Validation - List'
- enter the formula '=doclist' as source for your list
- for more information see:
http://www.contextures.com/xlDataVal01.html

4. If you have entered this listbox in cell A1 you can use VLOOKUP to
'pull' the mileage:
=VLOOKUP(A1,doclist,2,0)
see http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/vlookup.htm

 

[BrianB]

I suggest you have a look at the VLOOKUP() worksheet function which wil
look up a value in a table depending on the contents of another cell

 

[mhuntoon]

Thank you Frank. I've printed this up and will get to work on it shortly.

 

[mhuntoon]

Brian,

Thank you. I'll look over what both you and Frank suggested.