Dave,
Thanks for the post! I appreciate your help.
I don't seem to have the match working quite right. Every record is "not
matched" which is not a true statement.

Here's my set up:
I have one file called "indb" (this is what is already in the db)
The other file is called "datafile" (this is what I want to load, without
dupes)

To simplify, I created a column d in each file that is the concatenation of
a, b and c. So I just need to compare column d in "indb" to column d in
"datafile".

"datafile" has about 3000 records. "indb" has about 500 records.

In "datafile" I created a column with this formula:
=IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH([Indb.xls]Sheet1!$D:$D,0)),"Matched", "no match")

I believe this formula says for every (3000) record in "datafile", look at
all records in column d of "indb" and if there is a match then the formula
states "Matched", if there is no match (the match value is "0") the formula
states "not matched".

What am I missing?
Thanks for your time!



"Dave F" wrote:

Assume first name, last name, and company are in columns A, B, C
respectively.
=IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH(CONCATENATE(A1,B1,C1),'[File2]Sheet1'!$A$1:$A$100,0)),"Matched","not matched")

You have to enter the correct cell references to concatenate (join) above,
as well as the correct file name and sheet name and match range for the
external file.

If you do this correctly, where a match between the concatenated fields in
file 1 and the match range in file 2 occurs, "Match" will be returned in the
cell in which the above formula is entered, else "not matched" will be
returned.

Any questions, post back.

Dave



--
A hint to posters: Specific, detailed questions are more likely to be
answered than questions that provide no detail about your problem.


"Stephanie" wrote:

Hello- my first post to the Excel group. I'm new on 2003 (SP2).

I have existing records of FirstName, LastName and Company.
I'm planning to upload additional records of FirstName, LastName and Company
and want to make sure that I don't upload any already exisiting records.

How can I compare FirstName, LastName and Company from one file (all 3
together would make the record "unique") against FirstName, LastName and
Company from another file?
Thanks for your help!