not sure why that happened, step 2 didnt come through either. let me try that again
thank you for trying to help,
1)i work both with office 365 and 2010
2)windows 2007
3)the sheet name with raw data is called BAYS
4)the results sheet is is called ADJ
Maybe if i explain what the data actually is it might help make more sense as-well. structures are actual power poles, bays are the power lines between the poles, some poles will have two bays between them.
the only data that shows any kind of links between poles is the data i have been given and what they want back is a list of all the Poles(the easy part) and the poles that would be adjacent them.
i have almost been able to solve the problem my self
this is the steps i took, i have made a new list of raw data to shown how structure ids are in no specif order
[TABLE="width: 292"]
<colgroup><col><col><col></colgroup><tbody>[TR]
[TD]BAY[/TD]
[TD]Structure 1 Pick ID[/TD]
[TD]Structure 2 Pick ID[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B256315[/TD]
[TD]S1031855[/TD]
[TD]S1031856[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B256314[/TD]
[TD]S1031856[/TD]
[TD]S1031857[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B256313[/TD]
[TD]S1031858[/TD]
[TD]S1031857[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B256312[/TD]
[TD]S1031858[/TD]
[TD]S1031859[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B467564[/TD]
[TD]S1031856[/TD]
[TD]S1031855[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B456886[/TD]
[TD]S1031856[/TD]
[TD]S1031857[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B475757[/TD]
[TD]S1031858[/TD]
[TD]S1031857[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B575757[/TD]
[TD]S1031859[/TD]
[TD]S1031858[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
1)create a new sheet called List, make a list of the structures. combination of column B and C, then remove duplicates
[TABLE="width: 132"]
<colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody>[TR]
[TD]Structure 1 Pick ID[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]S1031855[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]S1031856[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]S1031858[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]S1031859[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]S1031857[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
2)i then duplicate the data on the sheet called Bays but swap the pick id numbers around but only for the duplicated data , i have done this as some poles don't appear in column B due to the power line ending on that pole and only being in colomn C
[TABLE="width: 292"]
<colgroup><col><col><col></colgroup><tbody>[TR]
[TD]BAY[/TD]
[TD]Structure 1 Pick ID[/TD]
[TD]Structure 2 Pick ID[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B256315[/TD]
[TD]S1031855[/TD]
[TD]S1031856[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B256314[/TD]
[TD]S1031856[/TD]
[TD]S1031857[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B256313[/TD]
[TD]S1031858[/TD]
[TD]S1031857[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B256312[/TD]
[TD]S1031858[/TD]
[TD]S1031859[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B467564[/TD]
[TD]S1031856[/TD]
[TD]S1031855[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B456886[/TD]
[TD]S1031856[/TD]
[TD]S1031857[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B475757[/TD]
[TD]S1031858[/TD]
[TD]S1031857[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B575757[/TD]
[TD]S1031859[/TD]
[TD]S1031858[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B256315[/TD]
[TD]S1031856[/TD]
[TD]S1031855[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B256314[/TD]
[TD]S1031857[/TD]
[TD]S1031856[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B256313[/TD]
[TD]S1031857[/TD]
[TD]S1031858[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B256312[/TD]
[TD]S1031859[/TD]
[TD]S1031858[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B467564[/TD]
[TD]S1031855[/TD]
[TD]S1031856[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B456886[/TD]
[TD]S1031857[/TD]
[TD]S1031856[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B475757[/TD]
[TD]S1031857[/TD]
[TD]S1031858[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B575757[/TD]
[TD]S1031858[/TD]
[TD]S1031859[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
3) this is about the point where i went of the rails. i recorded a macro to cut row 3 on sheet called list, and paste it on a new work sheet. then i used index and match back to the sheet called Bays. this would work like a vlookup but continue to bring back all matches and paste them in column D, i then would remove duplicates in column D and transpose data so they run left to right not up and down. i run this macro until there is no data left on the sheet with just the pole numbers
4) i then run a macro to merge all the work sheets
and only some times it work but mostly it doesn't
here is the completed sheet
[TABLE="width: 329"]
<colgroup><col><col><col></colgroup><tbody>[TR]
[TD]Structure 1 Pick ID[/TD]
[TD]ADJ 1 Pick ID[/TD]
[TD]ADJ 2 Pick ID[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]S1031855[/TD]
[TD]S1031856[/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]S1031856[/TD]
[TD]S1031857[/TD]
[TD]S1031855[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]S1031858[/TD]
[TD]S1031857[/TD]
[TD]S1031859[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]S1031859[/TD]
[TD]S1031858[/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]S1031857[/TD]
[TD]S1031856[/TD]
[TD]S1031858[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
hope this works
thanks