Filling empty field with data from field above 2

[Jeanie]

I have a spreadsheet in excel that I imported from another program. It is a list of client identification information and # of medical visits. If one piece of the identification information changed from one visit to another, then there are two lines for that client. However, any of the pieces of information that did not change are left blank on the 2nd line. There are 12000 lines. Is there any quick way to tell excel to fill in the blank field with the information on the line above?

Also, if I am able to do this, then I will want to be able to sort the data in a number of different ways, but will not want the fields that have been filled in during the above process to have the information change. I know that once I do whatever fix you people who are much smarter than me suggest, then I can just copy and "paste special" everything over with "values" only, but was thinking there might be an easier way.

Thanks,

Jeanie

 

[KenWright]

Assume your data is in the range A1:A12000, blank cells included. I'm also going to assume you have a blank in cell A2 (Could be any cell for that matter, but just to help a bit here).

Select A1:A12000, and do Edit / Go To / Special / Blank cells

You will now see all the blank cells selected, and the first blank cell in this case will be A2. Just start typing = and then with the mouse click onto cell A1, or whatever the first cell above your first blank cell is. Now hit CTRL+ENTER at the same time. This will have now populated your data as you wanted, so to finish off, just select A1:A12000 again and do edit / Copy, then Edit / Paste Special / Values.

When you sort your data, make sure you select ALL of it, and not just one of the columns.

Regards
Ken...............

 

[Jeanie]

That worked great!! Thanks for your help!

Jeanie

 

[KenWright]

My pleasure - Glad we could get you sorted.

Regards
Ken.............