Effortless Data Consolidation: How to Use VSTACK and FILTER in Excel

In Excel, you might often find yourself working with multiple sheets of data and looking for an efficient way to combine them without manually copying and pasting. Excel’s VSTACK function can help you stack data from different sheets into a single range, while the FILTER function can remove unnecessary blank or zero rows.

In this blog, we will start by explaining how to use VSTACK to combine data from one sheet, then expand it to multiple sheets. Finally, we’ll use FILTER to clean up the combined data, ensuring you only see relevant information.

Step 1: Using VSTACK on a Single Sheet (Q1)

Let’s start with the first sheet, Q1. Suppose you have 43 rows of sales data in Q1, from A5. The remaining rows in the sheet are empty. You want to combine this data into a continuous list without manually copying it.

Here’s a simple formula that stacks the data from Q1:

=VSTACK(‘Q1’!A5:H100)

What Does This Do?

VSTACK(‘Q1’!A5): This stacks the data from the range A5in sheet Q1. Since Q1 has 43 rows of data, the rest of the rows beyond that range will be blank.

Even though this stacks all the data, you will notice that the blank rows after row 43 in Q1 will also appear in the result.

Step 2: Using VSTACK with Multiple Sheets (Q1)

Now, let’s assume you have additional sheets for other quarters, namely Q2, Q3, and Q4, which also contain sales data. To stack data from all these sheets, you can extend the VSTACK formula to combine data from Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 at once.

Here’s how you modify the formula:

=VSTACK(‘Q1:Q4’!A5:H100)

What Does This Do?

VSTACK(‘Q1’!A5): This formula stacks the data from the range A5

in all four sheets-Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. The result will be a single list that combines the data from each of these sheets in sequence.

However, as with the single sheet formula, any empty rows in the data (such as rows beyond 43 in Q1) will still appear in the final result.

Step 3: Cleaning Up with the FILTER Function

To remove the blank rows or rows containing zeros, you can use the FILTER function in combination with VSTACK. This will ensure that only rows with relevant data are displayed.

Here’s the modified formula to filter out the blanks:

=FILTER(VSTACK(‘Q1:Q4’!A5:H100), VSTACK(‘Q1:Q4’!A5:A100)<>0)

How Does This Work?

1. VSTACK(‘Q1:Q4’!A5:H100): Stacks the data from A5 across all four sheets.
2. FILTER(VSTACK(‘Q1:Q4’!A5:H100), VSTACK(‘Q1:Q4’!A5:A100)<>0): The FILTER function is used to filter out rows where the first column (A) contains a zero or is blank. It looks at column A across the stacked data and only includes rows where column A is not equal to zero.

By using FILTER, you eliminate any rows that don’t contain meaningful data, resulting in a clean, consolidated dataset.

Final Thoughts

By combining VSTACK and FILTER, you can save a lot of time when working with data from multiple sheets. Whether you’re working with quarterly reports, or any other data spread across multiple sheets, this method allows you to efficiently stack and filter your data, ensuring that your final dataset is both clean and ready for analysis.

Give this formula a try in your next Excel project to streamline your workflow!

Check out this blog on Flash Fill to help simplify your work and streamline your data management tasks in Excel!

Also, check our blog about Automating Data Import and Export in Excel and say Goodbye to manual data entry and save your valuable time.