Automated order processing (using excel!)

failsafe

Just wondering if anyone could think of a possible solution to help with the current system of stock ordering I'm using in work.....

I get orders in via an excel document, with quantity, type, buyer etc. Then I compile them all into one master file. The excel master has a little formula on each line, which computes an order number based on the quantinty, price etc. At the end of the week these numbers are my output which I copy and paste into a separate file to mail off. I know it's not an ideal method but I'm looking for a way to slightly automate it.

I was thinking along the lines of a php form that i'd fill in (or get the buyer to fill in), but can this write to my excel master file? I've googled around but just found solutions involving MySQL, and as this is a work laptop it wouldn't be too easy to install little servers or databases on it.

Would something written in VB be able to extract certain values from specific cells in one file and past them into a line in another excel file?

[Edit] - Also, I realise this may seem like the wrong forum, I just put it here because I read cianclarke's similar thread and I was thinking of a web form style solution! Mods feel free to move to programming if it's more suitable?

Seth Brundle

Using VBA you could have a workbook (your masterfile) which when a button or whatever is clicked will open up a folder (where you save all the weeks excel files), open all the XLS files within it & import the data. It can then automatically email them off for you.
Its fairly straightforward - PM me if you need help on doing it.
However, if you go down the web (as you mentioned PHP, I'll stick with it) then:
read an excel file - http://sourceforge.net/docman/display_doc.php?docid=22092&group_id=99160
create an excel file - http://www.999tutorials.com/tutorial-create-excel-files-with-php.html
There are possibly better PHP methods but Im not a PHP expert.