Consolidate text data from rows into columns

**joevan1** · 04-02-2013, 02:00 AM

Hi there, I've had a look around the forums for an answer to this but haven't found anyone with a similar issue. Apologies if it's been answered before.

so what I have is a datasheet with five columns:

A: User Id
B: Category of item for sale
C: Brand 1 of item for sale
D: Brand 2 of item for sale
E: Brand 3 of item for sale

But what happens is I receive this data with only the first three columns filled out. That is, there are duplicates of the User ID in the rows, and these user IDs may have different categories and different brands. What I want is to consolidate the Brands into a single row for each User ID and Category of item.

e.g. Raw data:

A001 Category 1 Brand 1
A002 Category 1 Brand 1
A001 Category 1 Brand 2
A001 Category 2 Brand 4
A002 Category 1 Brand 2
A001 Category 1 Brand 3
A001 Category 2 Brand 5

that I want to end up looking like this:

A001 Category 1 Brand 1 Brand 2 Brand 3
A002 Category 1 Brand 1 Brand 2
A001 Category 2 Brand 4 Brand 5
A002 Category 3 Brand 2

I hope this makes sense. Is there any easy way of doing this? The Consolidate command only appears to work for numbers..

Many thanks in advance!

**arlu1201** · 04-02-2013, 02:58 AM

It will be good if you provide a sample file.

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**samba_ravi** · 04-02-2013, 03:06 AM

see the attachment, it may help you
Some helper columns were created

**joevan1** · 04-02-2013, 09:11 PM

nflsales that looks exactly like what I need to do, but I can't get it to exactly work.

arlu1201, please see the attached example. Sheet 1 has the raw data and Sheet 2 is what I would like it to look like.

Thanks so much for your help!

**joevan1** · 04-03-2013, 11:08 PM

Hi I was just wondering if anyone had a solution for this problem

thanks in advance!

**arlu1201** · 04-07-2013, 08:08 AM

Try this code

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Copy the Excel VBA code
Select the workbook in which you want to store the Excel VBA code
Hold the Alt key, and press the F11 key, to open the Visual Basic Editor
Choose Insert | Module
Where the cursor is flashing, choose Edit | Paste

To run the Excel VBA code:
Choose Tools | Macro | Macros
Select a macro in the list, and click the Run button

**joevan1** · 04-28-2013, 09:14 PM

I'm sorry I'm so late in replying here, but this is the PERFECT solution to my problem. Thank you SO much, you have no idea how much time you just saved me

**arlu1201** · 04-29-2013, 01:10 AM

Am glad its solved.

I will mark this thread as solved for you.

Also, since you are relatively new to the forum, i would like to inform you that you can thank those who have helped you by clicking the small star icon located in the lower left corner of the post which helped you. This adds to the reputation of the person who has taken the time to help you.