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Can my drop down list (validation) populate adjacent column?

#1 minimania

  • Group: Member
  • Posts: 1
  • Joined: 05-March 12

Posted 05 March 2012 - 07:10 PM

Hi all,

Basically I am trying to create a drop down list that then when an item in the list is selected the adjacent cell is populated by a value associated to the item selected.

For example,

I have a list of people in one column and their ages in the next column to the right:

John 12
Ian 15
Craig 20
Sam 17

Then on a separate sheet I create two cells one above the other that allow me to select a person from the list in each of the cells, what I would like is for the cells to the right of these "list selection" cells to be populated with their ages so that I can then do a "Sum" of what the total age of the people I have selected is.

Any ideas, responses gratefully accepted!

TIA

#2 Ax238

  • Group: Technician
  • Posts: 1,319
  • Joined: 09-November 07

Posted 05 March 2012 - 10:28 PM

Hello minimania :welcome:

I was able to come up with what you want. The instructions are for your list in cells A1:B4 on Sheet1. On Sheet2, create a dropdown "list selection" cell with the following for the List Source:
=Sheet1!A1:A4


After that, on the column to the right, use the following formula:
=VLOOKUP(A1,Sheet1!A:B,2,FALSE)


Where A1 is the "list selection" cell. This is basically telling Excel to look up the value in A1, in the Sheet1!A:B range, and return the second column value from the matching row (which is the age of the selected person).

Regards,

Ax

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