Pick a Random name from a list.

I am working on a Free Give Away of some products. Our systems give me a
list of individuals who we have had contact which are then placed in excel.
We would like to pick a weekly winner and would prefer not to throw darts at
my screen. Any Ideas?

Gummi bears?

Insert a column (A) with a sequential number for each individual starting at 1

Then type the follwing formula in a cell :
=VLOOKUP(RAND()*MAX(A:A)+1,A:B,TRUE)
This assumes that you have the names in culumn B

This formula will pick up a random individual, but remember that it changes
everytime you open or recalculate your spreadsheet !!! Winners might quickly
become losers !!!!


Hans


"David M Fritzke" wrote:

> I am working on a Free Give Away of some products. Our systems give me a
> list of individuals who we have had contact which are then placed in excel.
> We would like to pick a weekly winner and would prefer not to throw darts at
> my screen. Any Ideas?

Thanks I will give it a try! I guess I can turn off calculation for this
book, just make it manual.

"hans bal(nl)" wrote:

> Insert a column (A) with a sequential number for each individual starting at 1
>
> Then type the follwing formula in a cell :
> =VLOOKUP(RAND()*MAX(A:A)+1,A:B,TRUE)
> This assumes that you have the names in culumn B
>
> This formula will pick up a random individual, but remember that it changes
> everytime you open or recalculate your spreadsheet !!! Winners might quickly
> become losers !!!!
>
>
> Hans
>
>
> "David M Fritzke" wrote:
>
> > I am working on a Free Give Away of some products. Our systems give me a
> > list of individuals who we have had contact which are then placed in excel.
> > We would like to pick a weekly winner and would prefer not to throw darts at
> > my screen. Any Ideas?

Of course, but better is to make a note of the winner, just to make sure.

If you want to prevent this, you could write a macro that does the same
calculation when you run it.


Hans

"David M Fritzke" wrote:

> Thanks I will give it a try! I guess I can turn off calculation for this
> book, just make it manual.
>
> "hans bal(nl)" wrote:
>
> > Insert a column (A) with a sequential number for each individual starting at 1
> >
> > Then type the follwing formula in a cell :
> > =VLOOKUP(RAND()*MAX(A:A)+1,A:B,TRUE)
> > This assumes that you have the names in culumn B
> >
> > This formula will pick up a random individual, but remember that it changes
> > everytime you open or recalculate your spreadsheet !!! Winners might quickly
> > become losers !!!!
> >
> >
> > Hans
> >
> >
> > "David M Fritzke" wrote:
> >
> > > I am working on a Free Give Away of some products. Our systems give me a
> > > list of individuals who we have had contact which are then placed in excel.
> > > We would like to pick a weekly winner and would prefer not to throw darts at
> > > my screen. Any Ideas?

Thanks I will give it a try! I guess I can turn off calculation for this
book, just make it manual.

"hans bal(nl)" wrote:

> Insert a column (A) with a sequential number for each individual starting at 1
>
> Then type the follwing formula in a cell :
> =VLOOKUP(RAND()*MAX(A:A)+1,A:B,TRUE)
> This assumes that you have the names in culumn B
>
> This formula will pick up a random individual, but remember that it changes
> everytime you open or recalculate your spreadsheet !!! Winners might quickly
> become losers !!!!
>
>
> Hans
>
>
> "David M Fritzke" wrote:
>
> > I am working on a Free Give Away of some products. Our systems give me a
> > list of individuals who we have had contact which are then placed in excel.
> > We would like to pick a weekly winner and would prefer not to throw darts at
> > my screen. Any Ideas?

Of course, but better is to make a note of the winner, just to make sure.

If you want to prevent this, you could write a macro that does the same
calculation when you run it.


Hans

"David M Fritzke" wrote:

> Thanks I will give it a try! I guess I can turn off calculation for this
> book, just make it manual.
>
> "hans bal(nl)" wrote:
>
> > Insert a column (A) with a sequential number for each individual starting at 1
> >
> > Then type the follwing formula in a cell :
> > =VLOOKUP(RAND()*MAX(A:A)+1,A:B,TRUE)
> > This assumes that you have the names in culumn B
> >
> > This formula will pick up a random individual, but remember that it changes
> > everytime you open or recalculate your spreadsheet !!! Winners might quickly
> > become losers !!!!
> >
> >
> > Hans
> >
> >
> > "David M Fritzke" wrote:
> >
> > > I am working on a Free Give Away of some products. Our systems give me a
> > > list of individuals who we have had contact which are then placed in excel.
> > > We would like to pick a weekly winner and would prefer not to throw darts at
> > > my screen. Any Ideas?

Thanks I will give it a try! I guess I can turn off calculation for this
book, just make it manual.

"hans bal(nl)" wrote:

> Insert a column (A) with a sequential number for each individual starting at 1
>
> Then type the follwing formula in a cell :
> =VLOOKUP(RAND()*MAX(A:A)+1,A:B,TRUE)
> This assumes that you have the names in culumn B
>
> This formula will pick up a random individual, but remember that it changes
> everytime you open or recalculate your spreadsheet !!! Winners might quickly
> become losers !!!!
>
>
> Hans
>
>
> "David M Fritzke" wrote:
>
> > I am working on a Free Give Away of some products. Our systems give me a
> > list of individuals who we have had contact which are then placed in excel.
> > We would like to pick a weekly winner and would prefer not to throw darts at
> > my screen. Any Ideas?

Of course, but better is to make a note of the winner, just to make sure.

If you want to prevent this, you could write a macro that does the same
calculation when you run it.


Hans

"David M Fritzke" wrote:

> Thanks I will give it a try! I guess I can turn off calculation for this
> book, just make it manual.
>
> "hans bal(nl)" wrote:
>
> > Insert a column (A) with a sequential number for each individual starting at 1
> >
> > Then type the follwing formula in a cell :
> > =VLOOKUP(RAND()*MAX(A:A)+1,A:B,TRUE)
> > This assumes that you have the names in culumn B
> >
> > This formula will pick up a random individual, but remember that it changes
> > everytime you open or recalculate your spreadsheet !!! Winners might quickly
> > become losers !!!!
> >
> >
> > Hans
> >
> >
> > "David M Fritzke" wrote:
> >
> > > I am working on a Free Give Away of some products. Our systems give me a
> > > list of individuals who we have had contact which are then placed in excel.
> > > We would like to pick a weekly winner and would prefer not to throw darts at
> > > my screen. Any Ideas?