Compare sheets and make corrections

[rfcomm2k]

I made a serious error. I have a large file that I use for estimating construction jobs. I used it for one job and tweaked it by adding additional formulas as needed along with additional fill in the blank questions to feed those formulas.

I also copied the entire file to one named "Project Estimating Master". Theory here was that this "master" would be the one used for all subsequent jobs, but each job would have its own copy of the file with a name that was descriptive of the job.

This went well till one customer asked for changes to the quote I provided. He asked some very pertinent questions which lead me to finding some errors in his original quote. So I made numerous changes to his original file and saved it. However, I did NOT save it also as the new master.

A few months later I went back to another old project and made some modifications to THAT spreadsheet that greatly improved the accuracy of the estimates again. However these changes were NOT the same changes I made to the first updated customer sheet. This new sheet contained additional information for cabinetry and for HVAC.

Today, I went to open a new project and noted that the cabinetry and HVAC input was missing from the master file. Duh. Then I backtracked thru my memory and realized that I now had basically 3 versions of the estimating file that all had info that I want to incorporate in the new project.

What makes it more complicated is that some of the cells are not in the same place in each file. Example, in first file I added info for 6" thick walls on row 9, whereas in the other file the wall thickness is in row 8. And by the time I get to the end of the input sheet the locations are offset by 9 rows.

Started to change manually by hand, but realized I was lost. When I have approximately 42,250 cells in each copy to compare I will be here forever.

Is there a known method by which I can compare the cells one at a time to find the differences in formulas, and then select the ones I need and copy them to the appropriate new cell? Example, I will be comparing 2 files, each with 2 worksheets in them. Each file has about 42,250 cells with formulas. I would like to see a list made that shows 4 columns. Column 1 is file 1 sheet 1, column 2 is file 2 sheet 1, column 3 is file 1 sheet 2, and column 4 is file 2 sheet 2.

Beneath each column it shows the contents of each cell for each sheet and file.

To make this ideal I would be able to select (in bulk if needed) these cells and copy them to a new master sheet, so I could take info from file 1 and other info from file 2 and create a new file 3.

Please help!

[hoyasaxa215]

To automate this process would likely require VBA. If you're comfortable with that, you may want to move this thread to the VBA page.

[rfcomm2k]

Is there a way to move post to the VBA page, or do I have to copy it and create a new post on VBA page?