title: Comparing columns in different excel 2013 files and deleting the duplicates from one of the workbooks (need macro)
body: <p>This is my first question on this site and I'm not a programmer, so please bear with me. </p>
  
  <p>I am trying to create an Excel 2013 macro that will compare values in column A on one workbook ("active workbook") to column A's of other Excel files in a particular directory. Duplicate values (rows) would then be deleted from the active workbook. </p>
  
  <p>I have been working piece by piece trying to figure this out as I am not a programmer. So far I have been able to use conditional formatting to highlight unique values when the two columns are side by side (same worksheet). I used <code>=ISNA(MATCH($A2,$B$2:$B$12,0))</code>.</p>
  
  <p>Then I used a macro to print out the duplicate values to another column (instead of highlighting them.. I am still at this stage comparing two columns within the same worksheet). I did this by using the following macro:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Sub Find_Matches()
  Dim CompareRange As Variant, x As Variant, y As Variant
  ' Set CompareRange equal to the range to which you will
  ' compare the selection.
  Set CompareRange = Range("C1:C12")
  ' NOTE: If the compare range is located on another workbook
  ' or worksheet, use the following syntax.
  ' Set CompareRange = Workbooks("Book2"). _
  '   Worksheets("Sheet2").Range("C1:C5")
  '
  ' Loop through each cell in the selection and compare it to
  ' each cell in CompareRange.
  For Each x In Selection
      For Each y In CompareRange
          If x = y Then x.Offset(0, 1) = x
      Next y
  Next x
  End Sub
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Then I tried removing duplicate values from two different worksheets but that didn't work: </p>
  
  <pre><code>Sub ProcessFiles()
  
  Dim Filename, Pathname As String
  Dim wb1 As Workbook
  Dim wb2 As Workbook
  
  Dim Sheet As Worksheet
  Dim PasteStart As Range
  Dim Counter As Integer
  
  Set wb1 = ActiveWorkbook
  Set PasteStart = [RRimport!A1]
  
  Pathname = ActiveWorkbook.Path &amp; "\For Macro to run\"
  Filename = Dir(Pathname &amp; "*.xls")
  Do While Filename &lt;&gt; ""
      Set wb2 = Workbooks.Open(Pathname &amp; Filename)
      For Each Sheet In wb2.Sheets
              With Sheet.UsedRange
              .Copy PasteStart
              Set PasteStart = PasteStart.Offset(.Rows.Count)
          End With
      Next Sheet
      wb2.Close
      Filename = Dir()
  Loop
  End Sub
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I've been reading this site for couple of days and also searched through YouTube. I haven't had much success after the first two basic things I did. </p>
  
  <p>Background of the project: Everyday we have a list called "Pending List" which essentially is all of the projects we need to get done. Everyday this list grows. Each project is given a unique identifier (numeric value) that is listed in column A of the active workbook. Every day I create my own files of the projects that are being completed. Instead of manually checking off each project one by one by comparing several files every day, I would like Excel to be able to delete the duplicates (meaning the projects that are both on my pending list and in the other files, and only leave the unique projects that still need to be done. Hope I didn't confuse anyone but if I did, please let me know.</p>