formula(s) for Drop down list that returns list of possible materials in PO

[RB Collier]

I am trying to design a PO that will "suggest" possible materials that match certain criteria. Our company orders many different types of metal components that make up steel buildings. The components have different shapes, finishes (grade and/or types of paint), colors and thicknesses (gauges). Is there a way to populate a list that simply narrows down my search as I input the 5 categories listed below. So far, I've entered an inventory of materials available and used a concatenate formula to "sum" up the values of the materials on one page and used the formula =MATCH(CONCATENATE(A21,B21,C21,D21,E21),Materials!G3:G5999,0) to narrow my results. Ultimately, I would like a list of the descriptions of materials that meet my criteria. Is this possible?
Incidentally, the 6 in the last column is the result of the Match/Concatenate formula.


[TABLE="width: 384"]
<colgroup><col span="6"></colgroup><tbody>[TR]
[TD]Material Type[/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD]Finish[/TD]
[TD]Gauge[/TD]
[TD]Size[/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Shape[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Framing[/TD]
[TD]Cee[/TD]
[TD]Red Oxide[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]16[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]4[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]6[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

 

[Snakehips]

RB
Welcome to MrExcel.

You could do worse than check out YouTube tutorials for this of which there will be several.

One of which is Mike Girvin's Excel Magic Trick 550: Data Validation List Drop-Down Based On 2nd Data Validation List Dependent DV - YouTube

Hope that helps.

 

[RB Collier]

Thanks but it just seems that what I'm looking for is so much more complex. Is this something that you think might be suited for a data base?