Pick random cells

coldsteel404

New Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2014
Messages
16
Hello,

For my research paper I have a list of 156.000 dogs and owners. I'll give an example

First name last name Street number phone number
John Do Excelstreet 1 xx-xx-xx

Some names however are doubles (people who own more than 1 dog) and for the research I only want single values.
So how can I pick random names and I want the other information as well so I can call them for the research. I can't handpick them, it has to go fully at random so my research can't be influenced by external factors. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!
 

Excel Facts

Copy PDF to Excel
Select data in PDF. Paste to Microsoft Word. Copy from Word and paste to Excel.
I would use in G1:

=RANDBETWEEN(1,COUNTA($C$1:$C$160000))

In H1 and copied across to L1:

=INDEX($A$1:$E$160000,$G1,COLUMNS($A$1:A1))
 
Upvote 0
Hi.

Does it help if a random cell is colored?

Sorry Steve,
I have not seen...
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Hi, thanks for trying to help me out. I tried your formula, but it keeps giving me an error in the part 1,COUNTA.
No idea why :S
 
Upvote 0
What error? #NUM!? If so where are your names and addresses housed?
 
Upvote 0
"The formula you typed contains an error".
*click for help ... etc etc.

Colum A = firstname
Colum B = secondname
Colum C = street
Colum D = housenumber
Colum E = postcode
Colum F = city
 
Upvote 0
Which version of excel are you on? Is randbetween available to you?
 
Upvote 0
Im not sure then. Randbetween will be available to you. Are you sure you pasted correctly?

=RANDBETWEEN(1,COUNTA($C$1:$C$160000))
 
Upvote 0
Not sure if it matters, but some of the cells are empty if owners couldn't be bothered to fill in all the required info. COUNTA has sth to do with empty cells as well, right?
I used ctrl-C ctrl-V for your formula so I'm rather certain I copied it right ;)
Randbetween is available to me albeit under a different name, I'm Dutch.
ASELECTTUSSEN(1,AANTALC($C$1:$C$160000))
 
Upvote 0

Forum statistics

Threads
1,213,536
Messages
6,114,208
Members
448,554
Latest member
Gleisner2

We've detected that you are using an adblocker.

We have a great community of people providing Excel help here, but the hosting costs are enormous. You can help keep this site running by allowing ads on MrExcel.com.
Allow Ads at MrExcel

Which adblocker are you using?

Disable AdBlock

Follow these easy steps to disable AdBlock

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the "Pause on this site" option.
Go back

Disable AdBlock Plus

Follow these easy steps to disable AdBlock Plus

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the toggle to disable it for "mrexcel.com".
Go back

Disable uBlock Origin

Follow these easy steps to disable uBlock Origin

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the "Power" button.
3)Click on the "Refresh" button.
Go back

Disable uBlock

Follow these easy steps to disable uBlock

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the "Power" button.
3)Click on the "Refresh" button.
Go back
Back
Top