Forum Discussion
School Presentation Day Data: Help save me endless hours of typing
When you talk of the "endless typing" I'm hearing that as some form of document, whether a certificate or a citation of some kind, and that brings up the possibility of using Excel as the data source, and Word as the document processor. Word has the ability to take data from Excel and merge it into a document that has x amount of "boiler plate" text and space for the individual's name and achievements, as well as other tailored, even conditional, text.
Here's an introductory YouTube video...and it's very basic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFqCvTOpOL0
It's not hard to use
One final tweak here. In so much as I'm still assuming you want to be able to print nice certificates of some kind on an individual basis. All of the results so far gave you the text for the citations, but all as a list of all the names......
Here's a variation--still using the formula that @Sergei Baklan first posted--that produces individual reports. You will need to use a drop-down box to select the name, and still do it one at a time, but it is, as the saying goes, "Suitable for Printing." And you can extend the database as much as desired; it should all grow and be handled by the formulas...
A PDF of the output, as well as the generating spreadsheet is attached.
So long as we're fine-tuning what can be done, I'd recommend not "hard-coding" the words "Academic Achievement" into the formula. Rather, have a cell into which you can enter and fine-tune the wording, and have the formula automatically pick it up. This would give you maximum flexibility.
Desired Text> Academic Achievement John Smith Academic Achievement Mathematics
Academic Achievement MandarinJonathan Academic Achievement Academic Effort
Academic Achievement English
Academic Achievement Science and TechnologySee the attached for an example. I've used cell $B$1 on the "Report" sheet...that text can be changed to your heart's content.
Right now it reads simply "Academic Achievement" but it can be changed to
Academic Achievement in Kindergarten or
Desired Text> Academic Achievement: John Smith Academic Achievement: Mathematics
Academic Achievement: MandarinNote the colon in this last iteration.
Whatever you want. In general, it's a good idea to avoid hard-coding text (or other variables) into formulas.
It looks to me as if SergeiBaklan has given you a very viable solution. Come back if that still leaves something to be desired, but he certainly delivered what you asked for. It's possible you still might want to combine it with MailMerge to produce a nice looking certificate....but that's another matter entirely.