newbie - how to paste into an occupied cell

[Vic Baron]

I have a column of data (col1) with text entries like " California Metal
Works, Inc."

I have another (col2) with entries like "Metal extrusions."

What I want is a single cell with "California Metal Works, Inc. - Metal
extrusions." in col1

I've tried to cut/paste but I can not paste without overwriting the data in
original cell.
I've tried edit mode but I can not paste there
I tried concatenate but get a data error
I tried merging cells but I get message that only leftmost cell will be kept

So far I'm stuck manually typing the contents of col2 into col1 in edit
mode.

There must be a better way.

Each entry in col1 is unique as is col2 so search/replace is the same as
manually typing the data.

Any help appreciated.

Thanx,

Vic Baron

 

[Jim Cone]

Vic,
Assuming your data is in columns A and B then
in a third column enter this formula and fill down the column...
=A1&"-"&B1
--
Jim Cone
Portland, Oregon USA
http://www.realezsites.com/bus/primitivesoftware
(Excel Add-ins / Excel Programming)


"Vic Baron" <[email protected]>
wrote in message
I have a column of data (col1) with text entries like " California Metal
Works, Inc."
I have another (col2) with entries like "Metal extrusions."
What I want is a single cell with "California Metal Works, Inc. - Metal
extrusions." in col1
I've tried to cut/paste but I can not paste without overwriting the data in
original cell.
I've tried edit mode but I can not paste there
I tried concatenate but get a data error
I tried merging cells but I get message that only leftmost cell will be kept

So far I'm stuck manually typing the contents of col2 into col1 in edit
mode.
There must be a better way.
Each entry in col1 is unique as is col2 so search/replace is the same as
manually typing the data.
Any help appreciated.
Thanx,
Vic Baron

 

[Vic Baron]

Great, Jim, Thanx!

One more question - now, how do I get the text contents of the third column
back into column A so tat when I'm done, I have only the combined contents
of A & B displayed in A. I'm guessing something in the 'paste special'
command but not sue how to do it.

Thanx,

Vic

 

[Vic Baron]

OK, I played around with the paste special command and it seems to work. I
use =A1&" - "&B1 to get the result in C1. Then a copy and paste special
"values" back into A1. This changes the 'result' in C1 but puts the correct
data in A1. I then delete Columns B & C
and have what I want in A.

It appears to work fine, have I missed something?

Thanx again,

Vic

 

[Jim Cone]

Vic,
That certainly should work without problems.
You could also copy the results in column C and then paste values back
into column C (without changing the selection).
Then delete columns A and B.

A backup copy of the workbook or worksheet is always nice to have.
--
Jim Cone
Portland, Oregon USA
http://www.realezsites.com/bus/primitivesoftware
(Excel Add-ins / Excel Programming)



"Vic Baron"
<[email protected]>
wrote in message
OK, I played around with the paste special command and it seems to work. I
use =A1&" - "&B1 to get the result in C1. Then a copy and paste special
"values" back into A1. This changes the 'result' in C1 but puts the correct
data in A1. I then delete Columns B & C
and have what I want in A.
It appears to work fine, have I missed something?
Thanx again,
Vic



"Jim Cone"

 

[Vic Baron]

I tend to keep a set of rolling backups whenever I work on a project. Disk
space is cheap nowadays. Back when I started with computers we were using 8"
floppies with 197K data storage. With gigabytes of hd space I feel like I'm
in hog heaven!

Thanx for the help,

Vic