I've been struggling with this problem for months!  Please help!

Here's the problem:

I have 10 Excel files with lists of items.  Each excel file is about
1000-2000 rows long.  The first column is an inventory number that is
only populated once I acquire the item - so there are a lot of blanks
in the column.  My problem is assigning sequential inventory numbers.
I worked out a way to disply the next number to use, by finding the
highest number on each file and populating 10 rows of a worksheet, then
finding the highest number of that list and displaying it in each of the
10 excel files.  The problem occurs when I type in a typo in the number,
or accidently add a duplicate number.  This is really a nightmare to
unravel when it happens.

Does anyone know a better way of assigning a sequential number while
insuring no duplicates in separate excel files?

I was thinking pivot table, macro, something....

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks...

Dave (dave7822@aol.com)