•1 min read•from Microsoft Excel | Help & Support with your Formula, Macro, and VBA problems | A Reddit Community
How to handle data from different sources when columns are in different orders?
Our take
Handling data from various sources can be challenging, especially when clients export CSV files with different column orders. Manually rearranging columns is tedious and time-consuming. A more efficient approach involves using Power Query, which can streamline the process by allowing you to standardize column arrangements seamlessly. While INDEX/MATCH is an option, it can become cumbersome with slight variations in column names. Exploring reusable VBA solutions may also provide a customized way to tackle this issue.
I regularly get CSV exports from multiple clients. Each client uses their own column order. One puts names in column A and dates in column B, another swaps them. Manually rearranging every time is driving me crazy. What's your go-to method for standardizing columns from different sources? Power Query seems powerful but I'm not sure where to start. I've tried INDEX/MATCH with header lookups, but it gets messy when column names vary slightly. Also open to VBA solutions if they're reusable.
Any tips or templates you'd recommend?
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