Excel 2002 Spreadsheet questions...making 2 sheets, & combining data from both onto one "main" sheet?

Question

I'm making a spreadsheet to keep track of all the books I've read...pretty basic info, just the name of the book, author's name, series name (if any), and the month/year that I read the book.

I'm using Excel 2002, if it matters. I know what I want, but I just don't know what it's called, how to do it, or if it's even possible! LOL!

I have 191 entries so far, all on one spreadsheet. But some of the entries are books in a series, and some are "stand-alone" books. I'd like to put all the "stand-alone" books on spreadsheet one, and all the books that are in a series on spreadsheet two. And I don't know if this is even possible, but I'd like to then have the contents of both of those sheets on one "main" spreadsheet. Is this possible?

I'm a total newbie to excel, but I want to learn because I want to keep track of the books I read with it. If someone could even just give me the correct terms and names for what I'm wanting to do, I could try to look up instructions on google.

Thanks a million!

Answer 1

Here's an idea that you probably haven't thought of, but I think it will be cool to do and a learning experience.



Have all your books on one sheet. Have one column that specifies the category you want the book in e.g. series or non-series. You can actually have as many categories as you want. Then have a drop-down list that you can select "series", "non-series", or "all". Excel will then display only the books that fit your selected category. This is called "Autofilter" and is actually very easy to set up.



With your existing book data on one sheet, type a label at the top of a blank column called "Category" or whatever name you want. In that column, put 'series" or "non-series" for each book. Again, you can use whatever terms you want as long as you are consistent. Select the menu item Data\Filter\Autofilter. This is an excel feature that you just turn on\off by selecting it in the menu.



When you've turned on Autofilter you'll notice a drop down button next to each column label in row 1. Click on the "Category" drop down button and you'll have choices to select "All", "Non-series", and "Series" among a few others. If you select Series, Excel will auto filter to display only the the series books. Now is that cool or is that cool?



After you have successfully done that, post another question and ask how to use "Freeze Panes" to keep the column labels from scrolling.

Answer 2

how would the main sheet be laid out? do you want entries from both lists to automatically appear in one list on the main page? if that's the case, have you thought about using microsoft access? a database would probably give you more flexibility.





http://www.excelforum.com/

i found that to be the best forum for posting direct questions relating to excel worksheet functions and the like.

Answer 3

easy, open both files then highlight the stuff you want to move, copy (Ctrl+C) the open your file where your moving it and click the top left hand box where you want the data to be placed and paste (Ctrl+V)



make sure it an empty tile or the stuff in that tile and the tiles that are the same width and depth of your new data will be replaced by the pasted data



hope that helps :)