Hello. I'm trying to create a function in Excel that will populate empty
cells with a value. I have a file, which is imported from another system
that contains the details of operators that have signed on to a specific
checkout in the retail store in which I work, this file is in Excel format.

The imported list contains about 13000 rows, each one containing the name of
the operator that signed on. It looks like this:

Checkout Number Operator Number Operator Name

1 123 A
Cashier
124 B
Cashier
125 C
Cashier
126 D
Cashier
2 127 E
Cashier
128 F
Cashier
129 G
Cashier
3 130 H
Cashier

etc etc.

As you can see, the imported data does not contain the checkout number in
every row which I would like it to do. Each week, when I run a new report
for the previous week, the number of rows for each checkout is different,
dependant on who's signed on that week. Could anybody help with providing a
formula that I can run in a macro that will populate the checkout number for
me that doesn't require me to specify the range myself of where checkout 1
ends and checkout 2 starts? With my limited knowledge of macros, I'm
finding this really hard. I feel sure I need to use a loop, but there are
several sorts, and I don't know which sort to use or how to go about it.

To further complicate the issue, the system that I import the data from
shows the same cashier against the same checkout a number of times, as it
captures *each* sign-on rather than just consolidating all the sign-ons to
one cashier. For instance, B Cashier could sign on to checkout 2 18 times
during the week, and this is what is making the number of rows so huge. I
would also like to be able to run a macro to remove the duplicates in the
operator name field on each checkout, so that in effect even though B
Cashier has signed on to checkout 1 a lot of times, it still shows that they
have signed onto checkout 2 a number of times also.

I realise that this sort of thing maybe better controlled in Access, but we
do not have Access installed at work and we will not be getting it either.
I work for a national company and all their PC's are built to the same
specification and have the same functions installed on them. There is also
no hope of changing the system where the imported data originates as again,
this is a vanilla system and cannot be modified.

I really hope that someone can help...I know its possible, but just can't
even begin to think how to do it effectively!

Kind Regards

Rob.