autopopulate data in a cell

Hello All,

I consider myself very experienced with excel but have a problem that may have a very easy solution I am unaware of. I have a list of item descriptions for products that are quite long, containing numbers, dashes, letters, and in many cases parentheses. This is an example of one item description: 029861-ML PR HOLD (20# Banana IQF Sliced Patagonia Label).

On a separate worksheet, I will need to re-enter the full item descriptions for the purposes of tracking associated quantities listed by warehouse (in this case the ML found within the description is the code for the warehouse). Is there a way that when I begin re-typing the description into a new cell, the rest of the description can autopopulate (it is recognized within the list of all descriptions from the original worksheet) for the sake of saving time?

Thank you very much

Are you trying to autopopulate from ML or from 029blahblah?

from 029blahblahblah

the problem with that is not every description will be copied over, only the end user is going to know what descriptions from the list they will need to re-use, and hence re-type if that makes sense. Otherwise yes, that would be a simple solution

You say autocomplete will not work from sheet to sheet, but if I put the list on both sheets in a separate area then hid it, would there then be a way to autocomplete from it?

Absolutely, as long as where you type is directly below it in the same column.

Here is one potential workaround, using Combo Boxes. It gets a little heavy, but it's a good learning opportunity.

http://www.contextures.com/xlDataVal10.html

I tried that, but it didnt seem to work (unless I misunderstood your comment). Please see attachment

the link you sent seems very helpful, but I am confused about how combo boxes work. It seems like a regular drop down list, which is how I currently have the sheet set up, but the user is requesting, or asking, if this autocomplete is possible as a time saver from having to find the description within the drop down box

Your book is very close, you just need to put the data directly above, with the cells from above touching the cells below.

After you open the book, see the difference. Now just select rows 1-290, right click, and choose Hide.

The autocomplete kicks in when you begin after the first space. If you type "Strawberry Pr" it will autofill to "Strawberry Puree 466# Drums - Other"

Thank you, I think you hit the nail on the head with the problem!!! My only other question would be if I need to delete the rows in the data directly above that have blanks in the column, so that all the cells with data are consecutive in the column, or if it will work just as is?

I recommend deleting the spaces between.

Highlight all them first -> choose Find & Select -> Go To Special -> Click Blanks

Then Under Cells -> Expand Delete -> Choose Rows

This will instantly consolidate that list. Then copy it over one column left, and delete all the rows between the last item and the table title.

Last, hide all those rows above the title.

This is fantastic, thanks very much for the direction, MUCH APPRECIATED

No problem, glad I could help.