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Hi Everyone!

Just wondering if anyone could give me a hand with an Excel formula?

Basically its for my dads mecanics garage, and my mum has put all of his customers into an excel spreadsheet, including vehicle registration, name, contact number etc. And what he wants to be able to do is type in the vehicle reg, and it populates the next few cells with the next few cells next to the vehicle reg in the “database”. Is this possible?

No idea why its been done in Excel, but a lot of time has been spent on it so i feel obliged to keep it the way it is!

If anyone could help ill be really appreciative!

Thanks in advance guys!

3 Spice ups
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like this?

SW_454806-help-with-excel-please.xlsx (9.25 KB)

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Never feel obliged to flog a dead horse. Export that to an Access doc…

5 Spice ups
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Rob T, Yeah that sort of thing, but the name and stuff are in different cells in the “database”.

LWBM, i would, but my dad isnt the best with IT! He just about knows how to open an Excel spreadsheet!

1 Spice up
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this here

spreadsheets have their place, but you are building a database, get it shifted to Access PDQ, and carry on building,

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If i was confident he could use Access if definitely do it! Sadly im not…

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they are in different cells on that sheet as well

you should be able to see what I’ve done and adapt it for your “database”

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further to your next reply, your dad learnt to get to excel, he will learn to get to Access, especially as once IN Access, he will just need to do a basic command to grab details, whereas in Excel he will need to REALLY learn it to get the best from it

just show him how pivot tables can really open up his spreadsheets :oP … he’ll come over to Access without a backward glance

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Rambler, Unfortunatley, hes a 52 year old mechanic who has no interest in learning anything to do with PCs. All he wants is to be able to type in a registration number and BAM, everything is there automatically!

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The way you have your “database” now is probably ok

admittedly if you wanted to link together your contact list with jobs he had done then it gets a bit trickier

upload an example of your current “database” structure and the page where you want the details to go

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Rob T, I dont have the spreadsheet at the moment, its on my mums laptop but i will try and get a sample later on!

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Seriously, for the long term you are better off showing him how to use Access to enter data instead. It will also be easier for him to get his head around the concept of everything working in one program. Sorry if this sounds like I’m “teaching you how to suck eggs”

If both of my 60 y/o parents can learn the internet, use Word, Excel, etc, I’m sure your dad can with a little help, especially when it’s as simple as entering data. My parents are slow at doing things on those apps (as are most non-IT literate people that age) but the key thing is they managed to learn it without much help. Btw my dad is just an electrician… :slight_smile:

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It would be far easier to do this in Access.

You can design a nice easy to use form for him to input and lookup Data.

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Okay thanks for your help! I did mention that an access database would be the easiest and best way to set this up!

Looks like im going to have to do the whole thing for them, so will have to reintroduce myself with access, last time i used it to any great extent was as a school project haha!

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lol good on him for getting that far then! It it we’re my Dad, I’d have to take what he did as a vague idea …and start again!

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Search for free Access templates, you may find something close to what you need. As others have said already, Access using forms are much easier for a non-computer person than Excel

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I will be having a look tonight, thank you :slight_smile:

I have no doubts that Access is the right way to go, and will be easier for him in the long run!

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and I’M a 55 year old ex electrician :oP

MY father however, yeah, lets just leave that there, I know you pain :o)

but Access is just going to be a single click for him, one to open, and one to select the search function

Excel CAN do SIMILAR, but it is not a D/B data manipulator Access IS

it is just the first step, so get Excel running, AND get Access available too, keep both updated, then swap it over, get him to at least understand that a little pain now will result in no more pain later, wheras staying in the Excel route WILL get more painful as the data set increases, and it is ALREADY requiring you to have input

get Access set up and running, it will have a single template page for NEW clients, and a single drop down list to select the query

but father’s - my dad managed to kill his PC, ny brother was in IT earlier than me, so it was down to him, took 4 HOURS to sort settle and fettle

then my brother said the immortal - so, what did you do ? …

just this - said dad

and another dead PC ensued - wonderful man, sorely missed, but the PC at least can breathe easier :o)

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If you have a modicum of programming experience then it would be relatively simple to add a database to an existing Google spreadsheet with Google Apps Script.

Of course this would involve importing your data from Excel into a Google account. Your father may have difficulty with the idea of using an internet browser to access web apps.

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Access is awesome.

Take the advice.