Formula for searching first text along a series of columns (drawing register)

[irishinscotland]

Hi,

Can anyone help me with the formula that works out which is the most current drawing?

For example in the below, I need column E to insert the first text/ number to come up in the columns to the right of it.

At present I am manually doing this which creates quite a bit of risk for human error.

Thanks.

 

[Peter_SSs]

Welcome to the MrExcel board!

MrExcel has a tool called “XL2BB” that lets you post samples of your data that will allow us to copy/paste it to our Excel spreadsheets, so we can work with the same copy of data that you are. Instructions on using this tool can be found here: XL2BB Add-in

Note that there is also a "Test Here” forum on this board. This is a place where you can test using this tool (or any other posting techniques that you want to test) before trying to use those tools in your actual posts.

If your sample sheet is realistic and the text values in those right columns are all single characters, then try this (I had to guess the row number)

=LEFT(CONCAT(F8:S8),1)

If any of the text values could be more than one character, try

=INDEX(FILTER(F8:S8,F8:S8<>"",""),1)