For Excel geniuses

I need some serious help. I am stumped and don't know where to begin. I will try to explain this as clear as possible in order to get the best response.

I work for a company and they want me to create an Excel or word document that saves them data input time. Basically, what they have right now is a Microsoft "Word" document that they use for invoicing customers. I have included a picture here for you.

What they want is the ability of linking their contact information from Outlook to auto insert in the billing fields. For example, they have a field for Customer/Contactor. If they typed in "RFC architects," instead of have to open outlook, grab there address, and enter there phone #, fax #, etc. All they would have to do is enter the name, and have the rest of the fields entered automatically.

Now if this isn't possible in excel, does anyone know any programs that this is possible, or any online databases that you can do this? Maybe there is some kind of invoicing software that links to outlook contact information. Anywase, I thank you for your reponses.

You can export the contact list out of Outlook to an excel worksheet. Use a control to create a drop down list of the contacts and link to a reference cell and then use a VLOOKUP to return the billing info like address, fax, email address etc... from your exported contact list. See the export help in Outlook. Use a combo box or list box for the drop down and the VLOOKUP to pull in the data to the appropriate rows. I am not sure if you can make the list auto update as new contacts are added.

HTH

Steve

Garrett,

In Outlook, use the Export function to export your contacts to an Excel file. Then in Excel, use
that file as your database, using VLOOKUP formulas to extract the required information into your
invoice.

HTH,
Bernie
MS Excel MVP


"Garratt" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> I need some serious help. I am stumped and don't know where to begin. I
> will try to explain this as clear as possible in order to get the best
> response.
>
> I work for a company and they want me to create an Excel or word
> document that saves them data input time. Basically, what they have
> right now is a Microsoft "Word" document that they use for invoicing
> customers. I have included a picture here for you.
>
> What they want is the ability of linking their contact information from
> Outlook to auto insert in the billing fields. For example, they have a
> field for Customer/Contactor. If they typed in "RFC architects,"
> instead of have to open outlook, grab there address, and enter there
> phone #, fax #, etc. All they would have to do is enter the name, and
> have the rest of the fields entered automatically.
>
> Now if this isn't possible in excel, does anyone know any programs that
> this is possible, or any online databases that you can do this? Maybe
> there is some kind of invoicing software that links to outlook contact
> information. Anywase, I thank you for your reponses.
>
>
> +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
> |Filename: picture.JPG |
> |Download: http://www.excelforum.com/attachment.php?postid=4371 |
> +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
>
> --
> Garratt
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Garratt's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=31632
> View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=513260
>

this is fine but does it mean every time we change the data in outlook we
need to export the details to excel file and then use vlookup function .

what to do when the changes are quite frequent

"Bernie Deitrick" wrote:

> Garrett,
>
> In Outlook, use the Export function to export your contacts to an Excel file. Then in Excel, use
> that file as your database, using VLOOKUP formulas to extract the required information into your
> invoice.
>
> HTH,
> Bernie
> MS Excel MVP
>
>
> "Garratt" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> > I need some serious help. I am stumped and don't know where to begin. I
> > will try to explain this as clear as possible in order to get the best
> > response.
> >
> > I work for a company and they want me to create an Excel or word
> > document that saves them data input time. Basically, what they have
> > right now is a Microsoft "Word" document that they use for invoicing
> > customers. I have included a picture here for you.
> >
> > What they want is the ability of linking their contact information from
> > Outlook to auto insert in the billing fields. For example, they have a
> > field for Customer/Contactor. If they typed in "RFC architects,"
> > instead of have to open outlook, grab there address, and enter there
> > phone #, fax #, etc. All they would have to do is enter the name, and
> > have the rest of the fields entered automatically.
> >
> > Now if this isn't possible in excel, does anyone know any programs that
> > this is possible, or any online databases that you can do this? Maybe
> > there is some kind of invoicing software that links to outlook contact
> > information. Anywase, I thank you for your reponses.
> >
> >
> > +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
> > |Filename: picture.JPG |
> > |Download: http://www.excelforum.com/attachment.php?postid=4371 |
> > +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
> >
> > --
> > Garratt
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Garratt's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=31632
> > View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=513260
> >
>
>
>