More commentary in the code. See double-apostrophe comments, as before.

Sub extractall()
' this procedure uses the "criteria file" created above to
' extract the full set of data from the "source data" file

'' The call that precedes this is noduplicaterows,
'' so the Selection is this - where noduplicaterows leaves off - I believe.
''
'' Sheets("Sheet1").Select
'' Sheets("Sheet1").Name = "criteria file"
'' Range("A1").Select
''
'' This routine would be so much more readable if this it used
'' Sheets("criteria file").Range("A1") or whatever is appropriate
'' instead of Selection.

Sheets("source data").Select
Range(Selection, Selection.End(xlToRight)).Select
Range(Selection, Selection.End(xlDown)).Select

Range("A1:I53263").AdvancedFilter Action:=xlFilterInPlace, _
CriteriaRange:=Sheets("criteria file").Range("A1:F7"), _
Unique:=False
ActiveWindow.ScrollColumn = 5 ''necessary?
ActiveWindow.ScrollColumn = 1 ''necessary?

'' Not sure of the effect of the filter on the selection.
'' If nothing, then the selection is all the contiguous data,
'' starting at cell A1.
Selection.Copy

'' It looks to me that you know that Sheet2 happens to be the
'' added sheet, but this is not necessarily the case in an
'' arbitrary workbook.
''
'' Worksheets.Add
'' Sheets("sheet2").Name = "final data"
'' Selection.PasteSpecial Paste:=xlValues, Operation:=xlNone, _
'' SkipBlanks:=False, Transpose:=False

'' Better:
'' Get a specific reference to the added sheet.
Dim wks As Worksheet
Set wks = Worksheets.Add
'name it
wks.Name = "final data"
'paste data in it
wks.Cells(1).PasteSpecial Paste:=xlValues, Operation:=xlNone, _
SkipBlanks:=False, Transpose:=False

'' This section looks like it is copying and pasting the same data
'' that was just added since Cells always refers to the active sheet.
'' If so, it can be omitted.
''
'' Cells.Select
'' Application.CutCopyMode = False
'' Selection.Copy
'' Selection.PasteSpecial Paste:=xlValues, Operation:=xlNone, _
'' SkipBlanks:=False, Transpose:=False

Set wkb = Nothing 'done with this object

End Sub

Sub codedata()
'this procedure codes all the data rows in the file "final
'data ". I have used a combination cacatenation and vlookup"
'technique to do the coding in mass. But actually, would it be
'possible to redo this section so that it cacatenates, vlookups
'and codes one Row at a time? For each row, I`d also like to be
'able to check one row at a time whether there is an id code
'for this row or not. And to put the rows which are id coded
'on one sheet and those for which there is no id code on a
'separate sheet.

Dim rng As Range, rng2 As Range
Dim rng1 As Range, cell As Range
Dim sStr As String, sStr1 As String

'prepare final data worksheet for coding
'' rather than...
'' Sheets("final data").Select
'' Cells.Select
'' Application.CutCopyMode = False
'' Selection.Copy
'' Selection.PasteSpecial Paste:=xlValues, Operation:=xlNone, _
'' SkipBlanks:=False, Transpose:=False

'' I'd prefer...
Sheets("final data").Cells.Copy
Sheets("final data").Cells(1).PasteSpecial _
Paste:=xlValues, _
Operation:=xlNone, _
SkipBlanks:=False, _
Transpose:=False
'' less ambiguous.

'' Isn't AcitiveCell A1 of Sheets("final data")?
''
Set rng = Cells(ActiveCell.Row, "IV").End(xlToLeft)
Set rng1 = Range(ActiveCell, Cells(Rows.Count, _
ActiveCell.Column).End(xlUp))

ActiveCell.EntireColumn.Insert
Set rng2 = Range(rng1(1), rng)

Debug.Print rng2.Address

- - -
David,
I am losing it here. W/o the actual workbook, it is hard for me to be sure
what cell is active or what the selection is, et al. But, no thanks. I don't
want the actual workbook. Perhaps my comments have been helpful. If you
tighten up this code, perhaps it will become clearer to you or others how
best to optimize it.

Regards,
Bob

"david shapiro" wrote in message
...
I've put together this code to extract and id code data from an excel
workbook, but have come across quite a few bugs. I've tried to put
comments in the VB code describing what's going on at each stage. I
would appreciate it if someone could clear up the errors and get it
running. Thanks.

<balance of message deleted for brevity. See original post.