Combine four columns (multiple columns) vertically into one column

[ajl_ahmed]

I have four columns with variable heights (I do not know How height), so I need a formula to dynamically discover the height of each column and combine the contents of each column vertically in a new column without any blank cells. as explained below: Note that I am using Excel 365.

Column A          Column B        Columns C           Column D        Column E
A1                       B1                       C1                          D1                  A1

A2                       B2                       C2                                                 A2

A3                       B3                                                                            A3

A4                                                                                                       A4

                                                                                                           B1

                                                                                                            B2

                                                                                                            B3

                                                                                                             C1

                                                                                                             C2

                                                                                                              D1

Thanks in advance.

Regards

[#2 · Accepted solution]

@ajl_ahmed 

It depends on which exactly version of Excel 365 you are, as variant

=LET(
columnA,FILTER(A:A,A:A<>""),
columnB,FILTER(B:B,B:B<>""),
columnC,FILTER(C:C,C:C<>""),
columnD,FILTER(D:D,D:D<>""),
nA,ROWS(columnA),
nB,ROWS(columnB),
nC,ROWS(columnC),
nD,ROWS(columnD),
k,SEQUENCE(nA+nB+nC+nD),
IF(k<=nA,INDEX(columnA,k),
IF(k<=nA+nB,INDEX(columnB,k-nA),
IF(k<=nA+nB+nC,INDEX(columnC,k-nA-nB),
IF(k<=nA+nB+nC+nD,INDEX(columnD,k-nA-nB-nC),
))))
)

[#3]

the latest one @Sergei Baklan 

[#4]

Many thanks, it is working

[#5]

@ajl_ahmed 

Two further strategies, one of which is a serious contribution and the other 'tongue in cheek'.  I treat any values that do not lie within a table or (for more static data) a named range as invalid.  In the past I have even written macros to delete such unwanted data entries, recording only the identified data.  

Here, I used a separate table for each column, so that the resulting combined data set could be expressed in the form

= VSTACK(TableA,TableB,TableC,TableD)

Note: VSTACK is only available on the Insider beta channel at the time of writing. It is quite possible to replace the built-in function by a further Lambda function 'VStackλ' and the code for that is already contained within Sergei's formula.

The other technique involved referencing each table as a Thunk (a Lambda function that returns its content if called with a blank parameter string).  I then used VSTACK to combine these into an array

Tablesϑ
= VSTACK(
     Thunkλ(TableA),
     Thunkλ(TableB),
     Thunkλ(TableC),
     Thunkλ(TableD)
  )

Thunkλ
= LAMBDA(x,LAMBDA(x))

The worksheet formula expands the array of Thunks

= REDUCE("Combined", Tablesϑ,
      LAMBDA(acc,Tϑ, VSTACK(acc, Tϑ() ))
  )

This formula works but is distinctly 'over the top'.  I would only use the approach if the tables were distributed in different locations over multiple sheets and I needed to evaluate which Tables were to be used for multiple calculations.

[#6]

@ajl_ahmed , you are welcome

[#7]

@Peter Bartholomew 

One assumption we are on Beta. But here is another assumptions we are working with structured tables, not ranges,

[#8]

@ajl_ahmed 

Sub combine()

Dim i As Integer
Dim j As Integer
Dim maxrow As Long
Dim k As Long

Range("E:E").Clear

k = 1

For j = 1 To 4
maxrow = Cells(Rows.Count, j).End(xlUp).Row

For i = 1 To maxrow
Cells(k, 5).Value = Cells(i, j).Value
k = k + 1
Next i

Next j

End Sub

An alternative for older excel versions could be this code. In the attached file one can click the button in cell G2 to run the macro.

[#9]

@Sergei Baklan 

Very true.  I do not think structured references should be a problem, after all that has been possible since Office 2007 and I think List Objects were available in some form even before that.  Requiring insider beta does make the proposed solutions inaccessible to almost all however.  

As for traditional spreadsheet methods, I have discarded them; I didn't like them at the time and I am even less inclined to use them now.  I would have posted a VStackλ function but I think one of your posts pretty much did that.

[#10]

@Sergei Baklan 

hi

i have applied your formula which combine multiple columns into one column vertically. However, I have noticed that if one of columns not containing data , the formula is not working. Can you please do modification on it to work properly considering this case?

many thanks :folded_hands: 

[#11]

@ajl_ahmed 

Straightforward way is to wrap by IFERROR

=LET(
columnA,FILTER(A:A,A:A<>""),
columnB,FILTER(B:B,B:B<>""),
columnC,FILTER(C:C,C:C<>""),
columnD,FILTER(D:D,D:D<>""),
nA,IFERROR(ROWS(columnA), 0),
nB,IFERROR(ROWS(columnB), 0),
nC, IFERROR(ROWS(columnC), 0),
nD,IFERROR(ROWS(columnD), 0),
k,SEQUENCE(nA+nB+nC+nD),
IF(k<=nA,INDEX(columnA,k),
IF(k<=nA+nB,INDEX(columnB,k-nA),
IF(k<=nA+nB+nC,INDEX(columnC,k-nA-nB),
IF(k<=nA+nB+nC+nD,INDEX(columnD,k-nA-nB-nC),
))))
)

[#12]

Many Thanks

[#13]

@ajl_ahmed 

Hopefully such tasks will soon get so much easier and clearer.

= LET(
    column, TOCOL(data),
    blank,  ISBLANK(column),
    FILTER(column,NOT(blank))
  )

[#14]

@ajl_ahmed , you are welcome