enter information in one cell it fills a description in another cell

[rvp27]

Hello Excelfourm!!!
This is my very first post. I have read through a lot of forums but I haven't quite found the solution to goal I am trying to achieve.
I am using an excel sheet to populate data based on products, model number, serial numbers, product description, price, etc....

I am trying to achieve an auto-fill task based on information I have already compiled.
Is there anything I can do so when I enter in a model number it automatically fills out the product description I had previously entered on another cell/row?

E.G. If I fill out row 1; cell c with "xx12345p"; row 1; cell f with "32-in plasma t.v. including remote and hdmi cables..." etc...
Then lets say in row 12 I enter "xx12345p" into cell c, I would like cell f to populate with that same product description without having to copy and paste / re-enter all of the information.

If anyone could please help me with this it would truly be a blessing!!!
Thank you so much.

[jeffreybrown]

Why not build some lookup tables and then use a vlookup?

This should help you with the concept.

See http://www.contextures.com/xlFunctions02.html

[rvp27]

Thank you so much for pointing me in that direction Jeff!
Now I ran into a few more issues following these instructions.
I made my product list with the following cells...
Product Name, Model, Brand Name, Product Description,Category

Now my overall goal is to have it so when I enter in a model number, the rest of these fields will be filled out (in theory)
Every time I attempt the =VLOOKUP with the instructions given, I keep getting errors pointing to the same areas.
I am honestly not quite sure what steps to take to fix this and make sure this method runs smooth and efficiently.

Thank you so much for the help.
-Ryan

[jeffreybrown]

Hi Ryan,

Maybe this will help. If it doesn't then maybe show your workbook you are struggling with?

[rvp27]

I hope this is the right format! I was able to save it as an xls. There was no xlsx option on my version of excel (2011)

[jeffreybrown]

Hi Ryan,

In C3...

=INDEX('[Product List Datasheet.xls]Product List Datasheet.csv'!$A:$A,MATCH($E3,'[Product List Datasheet.xls]Product List Datasheet.csv'!$B:$B,0))

...then adjust for part in red for the other columns.

[rvp27]

Okay, so if I paste that into C3... in theory it will fill out the product name based off of what I wrote in E3?
Pasting that into the other columns such as J3 (this is the big one) will automatically fill the data? Or do I have to adjust the "$A:$A" part of that formula?

Is there anyway for this to automatically execute? or do I have to enter these into every cell I want it to apply to?

[jeffreybrown]

Yes exactly, just change the A:A to D:D in column J to look up the Product Description.

We could actually adjust the formula to match by the column header, but I figured since this is so small then adjusting the column reference should be pretty easy.

[jeffreybrown]

Hi Ryan,

As long as all the header columns are named the same between the two workbooks, you could use this variations to look up the correct column.

Place in C3 and then copy over to G3, J3, and AB3...

=INDEX('[Product List Datasheet.xls]List Datasheet'!A$1:E$355,MATCH($E3,'[Product List Datasheet.xls]List Datasheet'!$B:$B,0),MATCH(C$1,'[Product List Datasheet.xls]List Datasheet'!$A$1:$E$1,0))

[rvp27]

Thank you so much Jeff!
I think that one right there is the winner!!!!

-Ryan

[jeffreybrown]

Good deal Ryan. Glad to know you know have something to work with and thanks for the feedback.

If you are satisfied with the solution(s) provided, please mark your thread as Solved.

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Select Thread Tools-> Mark thread as Solved. To undo, select Thread Tools-> Mark thread as Unsolved.

[rvp27]

Jeff, I happened to run into another problem.
So using this line "=INDEX('[Product List Datasheet.xls]List Datasheet'!A$1:E$355,MATCH($E3,'[Product List Datasheet.xls]List Datasheet'!$B:$B,0),MATCH(C$1,'[Product List Datasheet.xls]List Datasheet'!$A$1:$E$1,0))"
and changing what is in red (E3 to E4 etc...)helps me deal with filling out C3, so on so on...

BUT when I paste this code into G3, J3, AB... I get the same exact data that got entered into C3

Any ideas?

[rvp27]

Ignore my last post! I figured out which piece to change!
Thank you again!