Try this formula in column B of File 1:

=IF(ISNA(MATCH(A1,INDIRECT("'[File 2.xls]Sheet name'!C1:C30000"),0)),"ID not
found in File 2",VLOOKUP(A1,INDIRECT("'[File 2.xls]Sheet
name!C1:D30000"),2,FALSE))

Drag-fill the formula down column B.

Note, this assumes the first ID number in File 1 is in cell A1, and the ID
numbers in File 2 are in C1:D30000. You will need to change these ranges in
the formula as fits the actual location of your data. You will also need to
change "Sheet name" to the actual worksheet name in File 2 that holds the ID
data.

Regards,

Tom


"gloriamar" wrote:

Hi, I'm required to present some info at my work, using two excel files. This
is the task:

File 1, has ID numbers in column A, and column B is blank.

File 2, has ID numbers in column C and column D has the date the person
joined the company

File 1 es a select grop of people (about 2500), whereas File 2 is the
general database (about 30thou)

They're asking me to match the data, in order to end up with the
coresponding date they joined the company in column B on File 1 (obtained
from column D on file 2), how to do it? taking in account that File 1 is
outdated and some people might not be in file 2.

I would really appreciate any help you might give me.


Gloria