
I am operating on a 98SE system with Excel 2002, and I cannot find my Office CDs to install the analys32.xll add-in.
Currently I have multiple columns of names, alphabetically in order, all "A" names in the 'A' column, "B" in the "B" column, and so on. Some columns have names in the rows 1-250, while others are as limited as 1-20.
I would like to randomly select (and display in another cell, on another sheet) one name out of all the names from A-Z without changing their order.
My recent attempts at solving this problem led me to many forums and message boards, as well as different add-in's that I thought might do the job. I would like to assign a formula, or array, or whatever is neccessary, to a command button in the spreadsheet that will complete this function. Otherwise everytime the screen refreshes it will redo the formula...
So far all I've been able to find relating to this deals with randomly selecting numbers :x , such as '=RAND()' and '=RANDBETWEEN(10,1)', the latter of which requires the analys32.xll add-in which I am so desperately trying to find my CD's and install.
I thought I might have to set up a longer and more complex array calculating a random number from 1-26 so as to pick which letter of the alphabet, (and thereby column) and then based on that, perhaps with an 'if, then, else' formula I could select an appropriate number from either 1-250, or 1-20, or whatever other range of rows is filled with names in that particular letter (column).

I read something somewhere, I think in the help file, about the 'R1R10' alternate cell reference system dealing with numbers rather than letters, and I thought maybe somehow I could use that and then just combine the first random number (column) with the second (row). But at this point my brain is swirling...

Please let me know if there is a simpler formula I could use to accomplish this, and if you've read this far, I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to read my longwinded essay of a post... (my way of apologizing for the length...)

Thank you for your attention and any responses
Sincerely,
Jeremy
