Excel question

[pitbullmamaliz]

I'm computer savvy but never really took the time to learn Microsoft Excel. I would like a chart that I can keep track of my paracord stock in. Maybe something that has all the colors listed across the top, and then in the row below that my initial length that I have in stock. I would then like it if I could then enter in the amount of cord I use in each color for each item I make and Excel would automatically do the math and figure out how much cord I have left. Does that make sense? For example:

Color - red
Beginning length - 350'
Length used - 25'
Length used - 15'
Length used - 35'
Length remaining - 275'

But I want it to do the math for me. Is that possible? And if it is, HOW?

[Hundilein]

Yes. In your example, if you put "red" in the cell B1, your starting length in the cell B2, and the lengths used in cells B3, B4, B5, etc, then in cell B6, or whatever the one below the last length used is, you type something like "=B1-(SUM:B3-B5)" and excel will do the math for you. That may not be the exact syntax, but it's close. (I use open office at home now, so I can't double check it). Then you can copy the formula to all the other cells along the bottom. When it copies, it should give you the option to change the columns to C, D, E, etc, rather than copying the formula for column B.

Yes, I am kind of a geek about stuff like this. It's leftover from my days of doing IT support stuff at a college