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riciarish's avatar
riciarish
Copper Contributor
Apr 14, 2025

Autopopulate formula across worksheets?

 

I am trying to create a lunch schedule for the year with approx 30 people. Each day a new person will be chosen (with their initials on Picture 1), and then it will automatically rotate (sheet 1). Sheet 2 will have their name, the date of their scheduled lunch, and what they are bringing. How do I autopopulate the date from sheet 1 to sheet 2? Also it's not exactly perfect, because people get sick or are away, and then I have to substitute someone else who is coming that day to do lunch, and I want the date to autopopulate as well on Sheet 2 when I have to make a change on Sheet 1. Hope what I'm asking for makes sense. How do I do this? 

3 Replies

  • m_tarler's avatar
    m_tarler
    Silver Contributor

    alternatively:

    =TRANSPOSE(FILTER( _DATES_, CHOOSEROWS( _SCHEDULE_, XMATCH( _NAME_, _NAMES_)<>"", "")

    where _DATES_, _SCHEDULE_, and _NAMES_ are the corresponding ranges on sheet1 and _NAME_  is the name to look up  

  • For each output table, first look up the appropriate row of the schedule by name,  Then selected dates corresponding to non-blanks.  Finally transpose results to column.

    = LET(
        personSchedule, XLOOKUP(person, names, schedule),
        scheduleDates,  IF(ISTEXT(personSchedule), dates, NA()),
        TOCOL(scheduleDates, 3)
      )

     

  • Sounds like you're rotating lunch duties and want the scheduled date to automatically appear on each person's sheet, even if you swap someone last minute.

    One approach:

    • On Sheet 2, use a formula like INDEX + MATCH or FILTER to pull the date based on where someone’s initials show up on Sheet 1.
    • If initials don’t match full names exactly, set up a helper range to link them.
    • If someone’s out and you manually change Sheet 1, the date on Sheet 2 will auto-update too — as long as the formulas are tied to what’s on Sheet 1.