I've got so many games I started using an Excel master spreadsheet to keep track of the various titles that I own. Over the years it's both in scope & size. Initially, the file contained just 2 worksheets - it was very simple. One to contain all the titles sorted in alphabetical order and a 2nd sheet that listed all the various DLCs (download content). Right now I'm doing a lot of repetitious (and very redundant typing) which is very unproductive and unnecessary. I've got a get a better handle on maintaining this su_ck_er because it's draining too much valuable time from me.
So without too much long song & dance, here are the worksheets in the 'master' file.
1) Comprehensive List (screenshot attached)
-- this is the 1st wksht and it's self-explanatory. It contains the most details about the game title such as where I bought it from, the date of purchase, the price, etc.
2) Unique List
-- This is an aggregate list of all of my game titles that I've purchased from various retailers such as Steam, Origin etc. Most importantly, I've weeded out all the duplicate titles I own, thus I've named it as "Unique List".
3) DLC Sheet (contains the DLC titles for the various games)
4) Then I've got a series of other worksheets that follow called "Steam", "Origin", "Epic Games" etc. Basically these are the stores that I buy the most frequently from. A couple of them are setup very similar to worksheet #1 above.
So far nothing is automated and everything is updated done by hand. In another words, if i buy a game bundle From Fanatical website, I go to that wksheet (named "Fanatical") and I type out all the details such as the individual game titles contained within the bundle, the date of purchase, the price, etc. Then i go to the Unique List and type all the game titles in there as well. Yes I know... very redundant. This is why I'm asking for help. My life is very complicated right now and the more I can streamline this workbook, the better. Problem with the updating by hand is that there are so many bundles these days that contain duplicates of the other. I bought a game bundle a couple of months ago, let's say the titles contained A, B, C, D, E, F, G. I bought another bundle sometime after that - it contained C,D,E,M,N,O.
After all these years of using Excel, I'm still not very versed with the VLOOKUP or HLOOKUP function. Would that help me here? How can I update the "Unique List" worksheet automatically (or near automatically) so that it pulls in the game titles from each of the stores while ignoring the duplicates? I don't care about the past - I'm looking for a more efficient way to maintain this "master" workbook going forward whenever I make a new purchase.
Maybe I'm approaching this entirely the wrong way.... Instead of pulling in the information from the various stores, maybe I should put the worksheet named "Comprehensive List" to good use. What if I were to pull in the information from the "Comprehensive" and parse that out into each separate store? Like i said - I already have separate worksheets for retailers like Steam, Fanatical, Origin, etc. Is there a way to setup or modify these sheets so that whenever the "Comprehensive list" workshseet is updated, it also updates itself automatically?
Sorry for the long post here but this has been bothering me for quite some time and I plan on resolving it as part of my new years eve resolution.
And yes, I do realize that MS Access is 10x better suited for this type of project but I don't have it. Besides, I started with Excel many years ago and it would be a lot of work to transcribe it over to a database.
Thanks in advance.
So without too much long song & dance, here are the worksheets in the 'master' file.
1) Comprehensive List (screenshot attached)
-- this is the 1st wksht and it's self-explanatory. It contains the most details about the game title such as where I bought it from, the date of purchase, the price, etc.
2) Unique List
-- This is an aggregate list of all of my game titles that I've purchased from various retailers such as Steam, Origin etc. Most importantly, I've weeded out all the duplicate titles I own, thus I've named it as "Unique List".
3) DLC Sheet (contains the DLC titles for the various games)
4) Then I've got a series of other worksheets that follow called "Steam", "Origin", "Epic Games" etc. Basically these are the stores that I buy the most frequently from. A couple of them are setup very similar to worksheet #1 above.
So far nothing is automated and everything is updated done by hand. In another words, if i buy a game bundle From Fanatical website, I go to that wksheet (named "Fanatical") and I type out all the details such as the individual game titles contained within the bundle, the date of purchase, the price, etc. Then i go to the Unique List and type all the game titles in there as well. Yes I know... very redundant. This is why I'm asking for help. My life is very complicated right now and the more I can streamline this workbook, the better. Problem with the updating by hand is that there are so many bundles these days that contain duplicates of the other. I bought a game bundle a couple of months ago, let's say the titles contained A, B, C, D, E, F, G. I bought another bundle sometime after that - it contained C,D,E,M,N,O.
After all these years of using Excel, I'm still not very versed with the VLOOKUP or HLOOKUP function. Would that help me here? How can I update the "Unique List" worksheet automatically (or near automatically) so that it pulls in the game titles from each of the stores while ignoring the duplicates? I don't care about the past - I'm looking for a more efficient way to maintain this "master" workbook going forward whenever I make a new purchase.
Maybe I'm approaching this entirely the wrong way.... Instead of pulling in the information from the various stores, maybe I should put the worksheet named "Comprehensive List" to good use. What if I were to pull in the information from the "Comprehensive" and parse that out into each separate store? Like i said - I already have separate worksheets for retailers like Steam, Fanatical, Origin, etc. Is there a way to setup or modify these sheets so that whenever the "Comprehensive list" workshseet is updated, it also updates itself automatically?
Sorry for the long post here but this has been bothering me for quite some time and I plan on resolving it as part of my new years eve resolution.
And yes, I do realize that MS Access is 10x better suited for this type of project but I don't have it. Besides, I started with Excel many years ago and it would be a lot of work to transcribe it over to a database.
Thanks in advance.
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