Merging Multiple Descriptions into one

**Tyler_b** · 08-14-2012, 12:43 PM

Hello All,

I am running up against a problem. I have a bunch of data I have loaded into a Pivot table. However, item descriptions have changed over the past 6 months, and I need them to be combined into 1 description. Picture below.

itemdesc.JPG

I need those descriptions to combine and only have one description, for ease of reporting in the future. (it doesn't matter which description it is). I need to be able to just look at the total for that part # with a description.

There is probably a quick fix for this, but I don't know it.

Thanks,

Tyler

**Richard Buttrey** · 08-14-2012, 12:53 PM

Stating the obvious perhaps but the easiest way is to regularise your original data so that you don't have different descriptions.
Extract a unique list of codes and then use =VLOOKUP to grab the description for each of the codes, copy the list of descriptions and paste it back as values.
Then back in your original data use a VLOOKUP to lookup the description from the two column code/description table you created above and copy that VLOOKUP down the whole list of items in your data description column.

**Tyler_b** · 08-14-2012, 01:53 PM

That worked. Thanks for the help!

**Cutter** · 08-14-2012, 04:31 PM

@ Tyler_b

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Thanks.

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