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i've tried match/vlookup and other simple formulas which i can find over the net but to no avail. Appreciate if i can get any advice or help from here.

Problem:

I have an ordered attendance list, i want to be able to type in a random name in a fixed empty cell. It will run through the column with the names and mark a "absent" or "present" in the adjacent cell next to the name if a match is found.

Is this even possible with basic excel?

P.S: New to excel, pardon me if I've broken any rules here. I'm using excel 07 and I do not have background in VBA.

Edited title.

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This would require more than basic Excel skills. If it can be done, it would have to be with VBA. Somehow Excel will need to know which choice, absent or present, if a match is found. – CharlieRB Nov 28 '12 at 19:33
What determines whether the chosen name gives rise to "absent" or "present"? – pnuts Dec 2 '12 at 15:33

migrated from stackoverflow.com Nov 28 '12 at 19:21

1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote

Try:

=IF(COUNTIF(MyColumnWithTheNames,MyName)>0,"Present","Absent")

as in

=if(countif(A1:A5,C1)>0,"Present","Absent")

QUestion would be in a better spot on superuser though.

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Agreed. I’ve voted for it to be moved to SuperUser. – Martin Bean Nov 28 '12 at 17:51
This doesn't work. My names are in columns A1:A5. I type in a random name, for example, in cell C1. It will run through A1:A5 and if it finds a match, it will mark a "present" or "absent" in the adjacent cell of the matched item (B1:B5). – f0rfun Nov 28 '12 at 17:53
What is superuser may i know? – f0rfun Nov 28 '12 at 17:54
so you can only have one present at a time? – nutsch Nov 28 '12 at 18:09

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