not overly certain what you are asking, could you clarify a bit??

also have you considered using the VLOOKUP function?

No, I haven't used a Vlookup function, but I can look into that...

Basically I need to automate moving certain columns in one excel spread sheet to columns in another- many many columns, and many excel spreadsheets

You mean merging them

the quickest description and how to:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/211802

Anyone know how to set up excel 2 paste multiple files into 1?
 

I have 50 different excel files with different data, but in the same columns. I have to move each column into a single default file, but don't want to move each column one-by-one, becuase there are 42 columns per file.

Is there anyway to set it up so that I can automate moving each column one by one into a different excel file?

For an example- take the 3rd, 6th, 9th, ect column and paste it into the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, ect column in a different spreadsheet?