I'm not sure what you'd call it, but is it possible to do this?

I'll try to make this make as much sense as possible...

Okay, so I receive orders from customers - each order includes all of the items they ordered (therefore each order includes multiple item numbers) - I then use Excel to tally up all of the orders.

There are two different things I need:

1 - How can I, after typing all of the orders into Excel, count up how many of each item needs to be ordered (without scrolling down and counting every time that item number appears...as I have to do now)?

2 - When I type an item number, I'd like the description of the item to automatically pop up into the column next to it. Is it possible to save a list of item numbers with their description so that can happen?


Any help would be much appreciated!

For number 1, you should look into using a pivot table. For
number 2, have a look at the VLOOKUP function.


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com


"nut_mom" <[email protected]>
wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> I'll try to make this make as much sense as possible...
>
> Okay, so I receive orders from customers - each order includes
> all of
> the items they ordered (therefore each order includes multiple
> item
> numbers) - I then use Excel to tally up all of the orders.
>
> There are two different things I need:
>
> 1 - How can I, after typing all of the orders into Excel, count
> up how
> many of each item needs to be ordered (without scrolling down
> and
> counting every time that item number appears...as I have to do
> now)?
>
> 2 - When I type an item number, I'd like the description of the
> item to
> automatically pop up into the column next to it. Is it
> possible to save
> a list of item numbers with their description so that can
> happen?
>
>
> Any help would be much appreciated!
>
>
> --
> nut_mom
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> nut_mom's Profile:
> http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=35864
> View this thread:
> http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=556565
>

You can put a table with the order numbers in the leftmost column and their
descriptions in the next to the right, pout it in another sheet or off the
view, then use a vlookup formula like

=IF(B2="","",VLOOKUP(B2,Sheet2!A2:B500,2,0))

where B2 would be a cell where you type in the order number and sheet2
A2:B500 the table with the numbers and their descriptions

see help for VLOOKUP

--

Regards,

Peo Sjoblom

Excel 95 - Excel 2007
Northwest Excel Solutions
www.nwexcelsolutions.com
"It is a good thing to follow the first law of holes;
if you are in one stop digging." Lord Healey


"nut_mom" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
>
> I'll try to make this make as much sense as possible...
>
> Okay, so I receive orders from customers - each order includes all of
> the items they ordered (therefore each order includes multiple item
> numbers) - I then use Excel to tally up all of the orders.
>
> There are two different things I need:
>
> 1 - How can I, after typing all of the orders into Excel, count up how
> many of each item needs to be ordered (without scrolling down and
> counting every time that item number appears...as I have to do now)?
>
> 2 - When I type an item number, I'd like the description of the item to
> automatically pop up into the column next to it. Is it possible to save
> a list of item numbers with their description so that can happen?
>
>
> Any help would be much appreciated!
>
>
> --
> nut_mom
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> nut_mom's Profile:
> http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=35864
> View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=556565
>