Since there are only 4 worksheets, how about just looking through each one:

=if(iserror(match(a1,sheet2!a:a,0)),"","Sheet2")
&if(iserror(match(a1,sheet3!a:a,0)),"","Sheet3" )
&if(iserror(match(a1,sheet4!a:a,0)),"","Sheet4" )
&if(iserror(match(a1,sheet5!a:a,0)),"","Sheet5" )

If it finds a match in column A of sheet2, sheet3, ..., it'll put that value in
the cell.

If the name/id appears in more than one sheet, you'll get both returned.

anthony wrote:

i have a master list having 10000 members.
members who should be in category "A" are in the second worksheet, those in
category "B" are in the third worksheet. for several categoires.

i have introduced a categories clounm in the master list and i need to fill
in the categories based on wether a member appears in the second third or
fourth worksheet.

the member numbers are similar in tha master list and in the categories
work sheets.

is there a quick way of filling in the categories column.

thanks

--

Dave Peterson