Solved: Populating data into a cell when selecting from a drop down list

Hello, I've been spending countless hours trying to figure out how to get a cell to be populated with data when I select from a drop down list. EG. When I select the Part Number from the drop down list, I then want the adjancent cell to be automatically populated with the Part Description. I have tried to look this up and follow the suggestions but just can't get it to work.

 

One way may be to enter this formula into C18, and copy it down.
=IF(B18>"",INDEX('List Items'!$B$2:$B$176,MATCH(B18,'List Items'!$A$2:$A$176,0)),"")
Breaking it down:
If there is an entry in cell B18 then INDEX ( Column I want a return value from , ( MATCH ( My Lookup Value , Column I want to Lookup against , Enter “0″ )), or C18 = "")
Note: vLookup can be made to work, but Index Match is faster and more accurate.

 

Wow thanks so much, I am so grateful for the help and fast reply. I can't believe I didn't register on this site earlier, I would have saved myself 4 days if I had! Looking at the formula, I see where I was going wrong. In some of the tutorials it doesn't tell you to put the $ symbol - so are you able to tell me what this refers to please? And what does the 2 represent?

 

Thanks so much for this alternative function. I will try this as well, as I have many other spreadsheets to do that require this outcome. Really appreciate the response and suggestion, it has made things more clear and I am less frustrated by excel!

 

Glad we could help. etaf is an absolute marvel at this! To answer your final questions, the $ makes it reference a specific $Col$Row, and that does not change. If you select a cell, you can see a square in the bottom right corner. If tou left click that square and drag it, it will copy the value of the cell to whatever you highlight by dragging. The $Col$Row value stays the same, but in this case, the B18 cell value increments to each new reference. Hope that helps. If this completes the question, please remember to mark the thread as Solved.
Enjoy the Day.

 

Oh - the 2 represents the cell 2 to the right of the return value