Designing a Spreadsheet to count different values

[6423joel]

Hi Guys

I am relatively new to using excel for any practical purposes, so I apologise if my understanding of basic concepts is lacking. There is only so much you can garner from playing around with excel and watching youtube videos (which I cannot watch at work, anyway :P)

What I am trying to do is design a spreadsheet that automatically tallies different values as they are entered (unique values every time the spreadsheet will be used) and tallies them in a separate table automatically and as the user enters the values. These will be measurements of wood cuts for projects that are almost all custom, and certainly all unique. As I am doing quality control for a small company, we have limited access to more advanced software. Here is a brief example to illustrate what I mean:

Bay # front rear

1 100x100 200x200
2 150x100 250x200
3 150x100 225x200
4 175x100 240x200
5 100x100 200x200


This is basically how the list would look, just with more entries

What I would like to do is have the spreadsheet automatically count and parse the different values, creating a separate table that updates in real time of the various values (for example, when 100x100 is entered, a tally is put in to that real time counter).

The values have to be distinct, but also need to consolidate as more tallies are entered. Lastly, and most importantly, it needs to be able to change every time a new project is processed. The next project will almost certainly contain different numbers. I have tried to do this using the countif feature, but it seems like that is based too much on micromanagement. The intention of this is to make it so that a variety of people can use the spreadsheet, most of whom have little in the way of computer skills.

If anyone has any advice, or further questions that will help elucidate what I am asking I would be very very grateful for any assistance.

Thanks so much

Joel

[Pete_UK]

If you had a list of the various sizes in, say, column X, so it will look like this starting in X2:

100x100
150x100
175x100
200x200
225x200
240x200
250x200

Then in Y2 you could have this formula:

=COUNTIF(B:C,X2)

which can then be copied down to the bottom of your list to create the summary table.

Hope this helps.

Pete

[6423joel]

Thanks for your reply, Pete

Yes that works quite well actually. Is there an easy way to then eliminate the redundant entries? While it does tally values at the top (for example, while 100x100 would be tallied 4 at its first appearance, that 4 tally shows up on the column under all subsequent appearances). If there was a way to enter in all the sizes, and then be able have the total appear only once per side that would be perfect.

[Pete_UK]

I don't understand what you mean. Can you attach an example workbook? (The FAQ describes how to).

Pete

[6423joel]

PRACTICE SPREAD.xlsx

Pete

Here is my example workbook.

What I would like to do is have a separate section that counts as new entries are entered, and consolidates redundant entries.