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CaitlinDavies's avatar
CaitlinDavies
Copper Contributor
Mar 05, 2023

Checking cell content against a list then auto-populating

I'm stuck and hoping someone can help me. I am creating an spreadsheet to track expenses. I have a list of expense categories and their associated codes. When I input an expense, and select it's category from the drop-down list, I want excel to automatically input the code which is associated with that category. How do I do that?

 

For example, when I select 'Uniforms' from the drop-down in G3:

I want Excel to go find 'Uniforms' on the Expense Categories sheet, and populate H4 with the associated code:

How do I do that?

 

Formulas and Functions

2 Replies

  • mathetes's avatar
    mathetes
    Gold Contributor
    Mar 05, 2023

    CaitlinDavies 

    There are multiple ways to do that. The easiest would be with VLOOKUP. That page, the one hyperlinked there, will also display some alternatives for your use. One factor in considering among the ways to accomplish this is whether or not the table of Expense Codes is complete now, or whether you'll be adding to it (or your company will be adding to it).

     

    If you need help beyond that link, by all means come back and ask, but I think the explanation there should be complete enough to guide you to success on your own.