hi, I excpect this example would only partially help. identifying items in
other books / sheets will require some naming convetions such as:
new! would be a different book name (different spreadsheet)

=IF(ISNA(VLOOKUP(A1,new!$A$1:$A$5000,1,0)),"unique ","duplicate")

I developed a sorting formula that works well. reciprocol (1/x...) is used
for reverse sorting a number column; the TEXT() function allows preceding
0's for accurate sorting: (putting formula in cell with line returns still
lets formula work)
hope this helps :)

=IF($DI$2=2,DR9,99)&
IF(AND($DI$2=1,D9=0,DI90),TEXT(1/(DI9*10^-9),"0000000"),9995555)&
IF($AN$2=1,AO9,9)&
IF($BX$2=1,TEXT(BX9,"00"),99)&
IF(AND($BT$2=1,BT9<""),TEXT(ROUND(BT9,0),"00"),99 )&
IF(AND($BW$2=1,BW9<{"-",""}),0,9)&
IF(AND($BS$2=1,BS9<{"-",""}),0,9)&
IF(AND($BO$2=1,BO9<{"-",""}),0,9)&
IF($BH$2=1,BH9,9)&
IF(AND($AA$2=1,F9=1),"xx",IF($AA$2=1,AA9,9))&
IF($BB$2=1,BB9,9)&
IF($BE$2=1,BE9,9)&
IF(BZ9="",9,BZ9)




"Liz" wrote:

i have a workbook containing multiple (about 10) worksheets with a reference
to sheet 1 for staff names, how can i sort the record on sheet 1 by the
reference (staff name) and ensure that the records in the other sheet have
moved as well... (i.e., if a staff member leaves, and i make that person
"inactive," how can i sort that staff member out of the other worksheets as
well?)