Compile Daily Incident Report
I need to join all 'Incident Descriptions' from today's log into one paragraph for the daily email.
=TEXTJOIN(". ", TRUE, B2:B5) How it works: The TEXTJOIN function is perfect for concatenating text from multiple cells with a specified delimiter. Here, it takes all incident descriptions from cells B2 through B5, joins them together, and places a period and a space (". ") between each one. The 'TRUE' argument ensures that if any cell in the range B2:B5 were empty, it would be skipped, preventing extra delimiters from appearing in the final report. This creates a concise, readable summary suitable for daily emails.
Data Setup
| Incident ID | Incident Description | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| INC001 | Minor spill in warehouse near loading dock. | 2023-10-26 | |
| INC002 | Forklift tire flat | awaiting repair. | 2023-10-26 |
| INC003 | Visitor reported a loose handrail on stairwell 3. | 2023-10-26 | |
| INC004 | Power flicker in office block B | no data loss. | 2023-10-26 |
Step-by-Step Guide
Open your daily incident log in Excel.
Identify the column containing the 'Incident Description' (e.g., Column B).
In an empty cell where you want the combined report (e.g., C1), type the formula: `=TEXTJOIN(". ", TRUE, B2:B5)`
The first argument, ". ", is the delimiter that will separate each incident description. We use a period and a space for readability.
The second argument, `TRUE`, tells TEXTJOIN to ignore any empty cells within the specified range.
The third argument, `B2:B5`, is the range containing all the incident descriptions for today.
Press Enter to see all incident descriptions combined into a single paragraph.