this macro works flawlessly, I do have one more request though, what i would like is layman description of how the syntax works, B/C what i really have is appr. 35 columns and my weld id is actually in lets say column H and welders 1 through 4 are in other colums, also i would like to apply this to multiple tabs b/c i have lets say superheat welds tab1, waterwall welds tab2 , economizer welds tab3. i would like to keep total # of welds per welder in a dif. column, this way i can calculate reject rate per location per welder( i can handle the rej rate), but same tab if possible. seperate tabs if need be. is this possible? if not is this type of function aval. in access? and again thankk you very much for your work i greatly appreciate it. btw on each tab my weld id and welder stencils are in matching columns(ie...weld id on each tab is col. H)