

find duplicate values in an Excel Worksheet, lets read into the third and most powerful way to research duplicate cells.įirst, we will remove the duplicate lines in Column E.

#Excel formula to remove duplicates in a cell skin#
Since it doesn’t feel right leaving you with only two ways to skin a cat, I mean. Keep reading to learn how we can gather more information on our duplicate data. The information above accurately reflects the number of duplicates but is lacking detail. Use the F4 shortcut to quickly switch the cell reference from relative to absolute. The value returned in the cell is the count of instances where this value is found.Įnsure that the cell references are absolute for the column you are searching. You are using the COUNTIF function to Search a range for a value, Cell A3 in this case. In the newly created column, enter the formula =COUNTIF($A$3:$A$17, A3). To start, make a new column (E) called duplicates. Let’s investigate if the COUNTIF Function can get the job done. On Excel Shortcut, we aim to use formula based approaches to solve challenges. Sorting by check number makes the duplicates even easier to spot. Now you should be able to easily distinguish the duplicate values from the rest of the values. The Duplicate Values Dialog Menu will appear and ask your preference of duplicate or unique values along with the method of formatting them. Navigate to the last option and select “Duplicate Values”. In the style section of the main toolbar find and Select the “Conditional Formatting” option. Conditional Formatting has a wide range of applications uses to sort or display data in a helpful way. Let’s begin with the most common method for discovering duplicate values conditional formatting. Let’s save yourself the eye strain and find a better way. More rows to scan also increase the margin of error. Although this approach can technically work, do you really want to sift through all the records? Imagine if there were hundreds or thousands of rows to consider. The first instinct of many excel users is to sort by column and eye scan the numbers for duplicates. We are going to learn multiple ways to do this very shortly. Can you quickly spot the duplicates? It’s okay if you can’t yet. The method used to identify our duplicates may depend on the detail level we want to view. For this exercise let’s suppose you are working for the payroll department where duplicate payments can get someone in trouble.

“Duplicate payments? I see nothing wrong about that!” you may be thinking. Duplicate data can exist in a system or Excel workbook for a multitude of reasons.įor this exercise, we will fabricate some check number information with duplicate check numbers included. However, we will seek out three ways to address our problem, Identifying duplicate data. It absolutely applies to excel problem solving where different strategies or formulas can be used to address a data-related challenge.įortunately, today at Excel Shortcut no cats will be skinned. While the instructor who frequented this phrase may be a sick freak, the memorable phrase rings true for many situations in life. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat,” one of my instructors would often say.
