Spreadsheet Layout

[Gregor]

I hope someone can help me with an elegant solution.

I have many persons with name, address, phone, etc. etc. Each person has
many skills. I have the columns labeled with name, address, phone, etc etc
but when it comes to skills I want them listed separately. Doing it that
way creates huge gaps in the sheet and make entry very difficult.

I thought I might have a second sheet with the names and then the skills
across the columns. If the person has the skill I would place an "X" in the
column. If I do that; how do I find a person(s) with the skills I'm looking
for?

Or is there a better way?

Excel 2003 SP 2, MS/XP

Thanks,

Greg

 

[Dave Peterson]

Maybe you could use row 1 for headers.

And after your info columns, you could dedicate a column for each type of
skill. Then just put an X in each column if that skill applies:

name address phone etc Word Excel Carpentry Heavylifting LightLifting
Dave xxxx 1234 ... X X X
Jim xxxx 4567 ... X X X
Mary xxxx 3456 ... X X X X


Then select the range and apply Data|filter|autofilter.

You can choose to filter to just show the skills that you want to see.

You could even grade your skills (good, fair, none), too.

This will break down as soon as you run out of columns (256 in xl2003 and
below).

 

[Gregor]

Dave,

Thanks very much for the reply.

I was thinking that using two sheets would improve the readability rather
than having to page over to the right many times. The day to day person is
even more computer illiterate than I and I'm trying to make it as easy as I
can.

Thanks again,

Greg

 

[Dave Peterson]

I like to keep my data in one location--a single worksheet if at all possible.

But you can always hide columns to make it easier to view/print the results.