Vlookup and active cell

[confused dan]

Hi,

I have a spreadsheet in Excel 2007, I have been working on for a week or more but just keep going round in circles. Basically its a simple expenses claim sheet where the user will select a type of expense from a dropdown list(created using the data validation list option) e.g. accomodation, fuel etc. Depending on what is selected I have a group of cells (merged) to show some help text on what is a legitimate claim etc etc.
Now I have got the VLookup formula working so that all the help text changes depending on the selection.
What I am struggling with is that when a second selection is made in say row 2 it then updates the help text discarding the previous help text displayed. From what I have worked out is that I think I need to call the current cell or active cell within the vLookup formula, however this is not returning anything.

Thanks in advance

 

[Robert Mika]

Hi dan,
If I understand this correctly you can add an IF statment
Like that:

Excel Workbook
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
1						populate	you can
2						populate 2	you can not
3
4
5
6
7		lookup
8	populate	you can
9	populate 2
Sheet11

 

[confused dan]

Apologies for the late reply I have been trying to work out how to show a sample sheet on the forum. Thanks for the reply but its not quite what I am looking for basically this is a sample of what I am trying to do

<table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width=253 style='border-collapse:
collapse;table-layout:fixed;width:190pt'>
<col width=64 style='width:48pt'>
<col width=189 style='mso-width-source:userset;mso-width-alt:6912;width:142pt'>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl6619899 width=64 style='height:15.0pt;width:48pt'>expense</td>
<td class=xl6619899 width=189 style='border-left:none;width:142pt'>help tip</td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl6719899 style='height:15.0pt;border-top:none'><a
name="RANGE!A2:A7">test 1</a></td>
<td rowspan=6 class=xl6819899 style='border-bottom:.5pt solid black;
border-top:none'>Text 1</td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl6719899 style='height:15.0pt;border-top:none'>test 2</td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl6719899 style='height:15.0pt;border-top:none'> </td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl6719899 style='height:15.0pt;border-top:none'> </td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl6719899 style='height:15.0pt;border-top:none'> </td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl6719899 style='height:15.0pt;border-top:none'> </td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl1519899 style='height:15.0pt'></td>
<td class=xl1519899></td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl1519899 style='height:15.0pt'></td>
<td class=xl1519899></td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl1519899 style='height:15.0pt'></td>
<td class=xl1519899></td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl6519899 colspan=2 style='height:15.0pt'>VLookUp Data</td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl6619899 style='height:15.0pt'>Expense</td>
<td class=xl6619899 style='border-left:none'>Help tip</td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl6719899 style='height:15.0pt;border-top:none'>test 1</td>
<td class=xl6719899 style='border-top:none;border-left:none'>Text 1</td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl6719899 style='height:15.0pt;border-top:none'>test 2</td>
<td class=xl6719899 style='border-top:none;border-left:none'>Text 2</td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl6719899 style='height:15.0pt;border-top:none'>test 3</td>
<td class=xl6719899 style='border-top:none;border-left:none'>Text 3</td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl6719899 style='height:15.0pt;border-top:none'>test 4</td>
<td class=xl6719899 style='border-top:none;border-left:none'>Text 4</td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl6719899 style='height:15.0pt;border-top:none'>test 5</td>
<td class=xl6719899 style='border-top:none;border-left:none'>Text 5</td>
</tr>
<tr height=20 style='height:15.0pt'>
<td height=20 class=xl6719899 style='height:15.0pt;border-top:none'>test 6</td>
<td class=xl6719899 style='border-top:none;border-left:none'>Text 6</td>
</tr>
<![if supportMisalignedColumns]>
<tr height=0 style='display:none'>
<td width=64 style='width:48pt'></td>
<td width=189 style='width:142pt'></td>
</tr>
<![endif]>
</table>

What I am trying to achieve is that each time something new is selected in the expense column the help tip is displayed for what is selected in the merged cells of help tip, as each row is filled out.
I hope this makes sense.

 

[confused dan]

Apologies I am unsure on how to show a sample of my sheet on the forum. to make it easier to understand what I am looking to do.

 

[confused dan]

Excel Workbook
	A	B
3	expense	help tip
4	test 1	Text 1
5	test 2
6
7
8
9
10
11	Vlookup Data
12	Expense	Help Tip
13	test 1	Text 1
14	test 2	Text 2
15	test 3	Text 3
16	test 4	Text 4
17	test 5	Text 5
18	test 6	Text 6
Sheet1