And delete duplicates in excel

This example teaches you how to remove duplicates in Excel.

1. Click any single cell inside the data set.

2. On the Data tab, in the Data Tools group, click Remove Duplicates.

The following dialog box appears.

3. Leave all check boxes checked and click OK.

Result. Excel removes all identical rows (blue) except for the first identical row found (yellow).

To remove rows with the same values in certain columns, execute the following steps.

4. For example, remove rows with the same Last Name and Country.

5. Check Last Name and Country and click OK.

Result. Excel removes all rows with the same Last Name and Country (blue) except for the first instances found (yellow).

Let’s take a look at one more cool Excel feature that removes duplicates. You can use the Advanced Filter to extract unique rows (or unique values in a column).

6. On the Data tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Advanced.

The Advanced Filter dialog box appears.

7. Click Copy to another location.

8. Click in the List range box and select the range A1:A17 (see images below).

9. Click in the Copy to box and select cell F1 (see images below).

10. Check Unique records only.

11. Click OK.

Result. Excel removes all duplicate last names and sends the result to column F.

Note: at step 8, instead of selecting the range A1:A17, select the range A1:D17 to extract unique rows.

12. Finally, you can use conditional formatting in Excel to highlight duplicate values.

13. Or use conditional formatting in Excel to highlight duplicate rows.

Tip: visit our page about finding duplicates to learn more about these tricks.

Duplicate values in your data can be a big problem! It can lead to substantial errors and over estimate your results.

But finding and removing them from your data is actually quite easy in Excel.

In this tutorial, we are going to look at 7 different methods to locate and remove duplicate values from your data.

Video Tutorial

What Is A Duplicate Value?

Duplicate values happen when the same value or set of values appear in your data.

For a given set of data you can define duplicates in many different ways.

In the above example, there is a simple set of data with 3 columns for the Make, Model and Year for a list of cars.

1. The first image highlights all the duplicates based only on the Make of the car.
2. The second image highlights all the duplicates based on the Make and Model of the car. This results in one less duplicate.
3. The second image highlights all the duplicates based on all columns in the table. This results in even less values being considered duplicates.

The results from duplicates based on a single column vs the entire table can be very different. You should always be aware which version you want and what Excel is doing.

Find And Remove Duplicate Values With The Remove Duplicates Command

Removing duplicate values in data is a very common task. It’s so common, there’s a dedicated command to do it in the ribbon.

Select a cell inside the data which you want to remove duplicates from and go to the Data tab and click on the Remove Duplicates command.

Excel will then select the entire set of data and open up the Remove Duplicates window.

1. You then need to tell Excel if the data contains column headers in the first row. If this is checked, then the first row of data will be excluded when finding and removing duplicate values.
2. You can then select which columns to use to determine duplicates. There are also handy Select All and Unselect All buttons above you can use if you’ve got a long list of columns in your data.

When you press OK, Excel will then remove all the duplicate values it finds and give you a summary count of how many values were removed and how many values remain.

This command will alter your data so it’s best to perform the command on a copy of your data to retain the original data intact.

Find And Remove Duplicate Values With Advanced Filters

There is also another way to get rid of any duplicate values in your data from the ribbon. This is possible from the advanced filters.

Select a cell inside the data and go to the Data tab and click on the Advanced filter command.

This will open up the Advanced Filter window.

1. You can choose to either to Filter the list in place or Copy to another location. Filtering the list in place will hide rows containing any duplicates while copying to another location will create a copy of the data.
2. Excel will guess the range of data, but you can adjust it in the List range. The Criteria range can be left blank and the Copy to field will need to be filled if the Copy to another location option was chosen.
3. Check the box for Unique records only.

Press OK and you will eliminate the duplicate values.

Advanced filters can be a handy option for getting rid of your duplicate values and creating a copy of your data at the same time. But advanced filters will only be able to perform this on the entire table.

Find And Remove Duplicate Values With A Pivot Table

Pivot tables are just for analyzing your data, right?

You can actually use them to remove duplicate data as well!

You won’t actually be removing duplicate values from your data with this method, you will be using a pivot table to display only the unique values from the data set.

First, create a pivot table based on your data. Select a cell inside your data or the entire range of data ➜ go to the Insert tab ➜ select PivotTable ➜ press OK in the Create PivotTable dialog box.

With the new blank pivot table add all fields into the Rows area of the pivot table.

You will then need to change the layout of the resulting pivot table so it’s in a tabular format. With the pivot table selected, go to the Design tab and select Report Layout. There are two options you will need to change here.

1. Select the Show in Tabular Form option.
2. Select the Repeat All Item Labels option.

You will also need to remove any subtotals from the pivot table. Go to the Design tab ➜ select Subtotals ➜ select Do Not Show Subtotals.

You now have a pivot table that mimics a tabular set of data!

Pivot tables only list unique values for items in the Rows area, so this pivot table will automatically remove any duplicates in your data.

Find And Remove Duplicate Values With Power Query

Power Query is all about data transformation, so you can be sure it has the ability to find and remove duplicate values.

Select the table of values which you want to remove duplicates from ➜ go to the Data tab ➜ choose a From Table/Range query.

Remove Duplicates Based On One Or More Columns

With Power Query, you can remove duplicates based on one or more columns in the table.

You need to select which columns to remove duplicates based on. You can hold Ctrl to select multiple columns.

Right click on the selected column heading and choose Remove Duplicates from the menu.

You can also access this command from the Home tab ➜ Remove Rows ➜ Remove Duplicates.

= Table.Distinct(#"Previous Step", {"Make", "Model"})

If you look at the formula that’s created, it is using the Table.Distinct function with the second parameter referencing which columns to use.

Remove Duplicates Based On The Entire Table

To remove duplicates based on the entire table, you could select all the columns in the table then remove duplicates. But there is a faster method that doesn’t require selecting all the columns.

There is a button in the top left corner of the data preview with a selection of commands that can be applied to the entire table.

Click on the table button in the top left corner ➜ then choose Remove Duplicates.

= Table.Distinct(#"Previous Step")

If you look at the formula that’s created, it uses the same Table.Distinct function with no second parameter. Without the second parameter, the function will act on the whole table.

Keep Duplicates Based On A Single Column Or On The Entire Table

In Power Query, there are also commands for keeping duplicates for selected columns or for the entire table.

Follow the same steps as removing duplicates, but use the Keep Rows ➜ Keep Duplicates command instead. This will show you all the data that has a duplicate value.

Find And Remove Duplicate Values Using A Formula

You can use a formula to help you find duplicate values in your data.

First you will need to add a helper column that combines the data from any columns which you want to base your duplicate definition on.

= [@Make] & [@Model] & [@Year]

The above formula will concatenate all three columns into a single column. It uses the ampersand operator to join each column.

= TEXTJOIN("", FALSE , CarList[@[Make]:[Year]])

If you have a long list of columns to combine, you can use the above formula instead. This way you can simply reference all the columns as a single range.

You will then need to add another column to count the duplicate values. This will be used later to filter out rows of data that appear more than once.

= COUNTIFS($E$3:E3, E3)

Copy the above formula down the column and it will count the number of times the current value appears in the list of values above.

If the count is 1 then it’s the first time the value is appearing in the data and you will keep this in your set of unique values. If the count is 2 or more then the value has already appeared in the data and it is a duplicate value which can be removed.

Add filters to your data list.

• Go to the Data tab and select the Filter command.
• Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + L.

Now you can filter on the Count column. Filtering on 1 will produce all the unique values and remove any duplicates.

You can then select the visible cells from the resulting filter to copy and paste elsewhere. Use the keyboard shortcut Alt + ; to select only the visible cells.

Find And Remove Duplicate Values With Conditional Formatting

With conditional formatting, there’s a way to highlight duplicate values in your data.

Just like the formula method, you need to add a helper column that combines the data from columns. The conditional formatting doesn’t work with data across rows, so you’ll need this combined column if you want to detect duplicates based on more than one column.

Then you need to select the column of combined data.

To create the conditional formatting, go to the Home tab ➜ select Conditional Formatting ➜ Highlight Cells Rules ➜ Duplicate Values.

This will open up the conditional formatting Duplicate Values window.

1. You can select to either highlight Duplicate or Unique values.
2. You can also choose from a selection of predefined cell formats to highlight the values or create your own custom format.

Warning: The previous methods to find and remove duplicates considers the first occurrence of a value as a duplicate and will leave it intact. However, this method will highlight the first occurrence and will not make any distinction.

With the values highlighted, you can now filter on either the duplicate or unique values with the filter by color option. Make sure to add filters to your data. Go to the Data tab and select the Filter command or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + L.

1. Click on the filter toggle.
2. Select Filter by Color in the menu.
3. Filter on the color used in the conditional formatting to select duplicate values or filter on No Fill to select unique values.

You can then select just the visible cells with the keyboard shortcut Alt + ;.

Find And Remove Duplicate Values Using VBA

There is a built in command in VBA for removing duplicates within list objects.

Sub RemoveDuplicates() Dim DuplicateValues As Range Set DuplicateValues = ActiveSheet.ListObjects("CarList").Range DuplicateValues.RemoveDuplicates Columns:=Array(1, 2, 3), Header:=xlYes End Sub

The above procedure will remove duplicates from an Excel table named CarList.

Columns:=Array(1, 2, 3)

The above part of the procedure will set which columns to base duplicate detection on. In this case it will be on the entire table since all three columns are listed.

Header:=xlYes

The above part of the procedure tells Excel the first row in our list contains column headings.

You will want to create a copy of your data before running this VBA code, as it can’t be undone after the code runs.

Conclusions

Duplicate values in your data can be a big obstacle to a clean data set.

Thankfully, there are many options in Excel to easily remove those pesky duplicate values.

So, what’s your go to method to remove duplicates?

=UNIQUE (array, [by_col], [exactly_once])

In case you want to highlight rows, you can combine all row values in one cell using the =CONCAT formula; if you would like to learn more about this function, read this article on the Microsoft support page.

Quickly Find and Delete Duplicates in Excel Worksheets

by Avantix Learning Team | Updated February 20, 2022

Applies to: Microsoft^® Excel^® 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 365 (Windows)

You can remove duplicates in Excel in several ways. When you use the Remove Duplicates tool, Excel will keep the first instance and the remaining duplicates in the data set will be deleted. It’s common to remove duplicate rows in a list or data set so that the data can be sorted, filtered and summarized. You’ll need to decide what you consider to be a duplicate (based on one or more fields or columns).

Recommended article: How to Highlight Errors, Blanks and Duplicates in Microsoft Excel

Do you want to learn more about Excel? Check out our virtual classroom or in-person Excel courses >

In this article, we’ll review 3 easy ways to remove or delete duplicates in Excel:

1. Using Remove Duplicates on the Data tab in the Ribbon
2. Using Remove Duplicates on the Table Design or Table Tools Design tab in the Ribbon
3. Creating a formula to remove duplicates if there are extra spaces in the data

The process is to identify the duplicates and then delete the duplicate rows.

For all of the techniques below, the list or data set should have:

• Unique header names in the header row
• No blank rows
• No blank columns
• No merged cells

If you have used the Subtotal feature to add subtotals, you should remove them. If you are planning on using structured reference formulas in Excel tables, it’s easier if the field names do not include spaces.

Note: Screenshots in this article are from Excel 365 but are similar in previous versions of Excel.

In the sample data set below, the data includes unique headers and duplicate records but no blank rows or columns:

Before removing duplicates, you may want to save a copy of the worksheet or workbook so you can keep the original data.

1. Remove duplicates using Remove Duplicates on the Data tab in the Ribbon

To remove or delete duplicates from a data set using Remove Duplicates on the Data tab in the Ribbon:

1. Select a cell in the data set or list containing the duplicates you want to remove. If the data set has blank rows or columns within it, you’ll need to select the data first (click in the first cell and Shift-click in the last cell).
2. Click the Data tab in the Ribbon.
3. Select Remove Duplicates in the Data Tools group. A dialog box appears.
4. Assuming your data set or list has headers, ensure My data has headers is checked.
5. In the columns area, select or check the field(s) containing the duplicates you want to remove. You can select one or more fields (columns) or All. A dialog box appears indicating how many records will be removed.
6. Click OK.

Excel will remove duplicates, keep the first record of the duplicate records and provide a summary of the number of rows that have been removed.

To use a keyboard shortcut to access the Remove Duplicates command on the Data tab on the Ribbon, press Alt > A > M (press Alt, then A, then M).

Remove Duplicates appears in the Data Tools group on the Data tab in the Ribbon:

In the following example, the Remove Duplicates dialog box appears with 3 fields from the data set:

2. Remove duplicates in an Excel table

If your data is formatted as an Excel table (typically by pressing Ctrl + T), you can remove the duplicates using the Table Design or Table Tools Design tab in the Ribbon.

To remove duplicates in an Excel table:

1. Click in the table that contains the duplicates you want to remove.
2. Click the Table Design or Table Tools Design tab in the Ribbon.
3. Select Remove Duplicates in the Tools group. A dialog box appears.
4. Assuming your table has headers, ensure My data has headers is checked.
5. In the columns area, select or check the field(s) containing the duplicates you want to remove. You can select one or more fields (columns) or All. A dialog box appears indicating how many records will be removed.
6. Click OK.

Excel will remove duplicates and provide a summary of the number of rows that have been removed.

Remove Duplicates appears in the Tools group in the Table Design or Table Tools Design tab in the Ribbon:

You can also use the Remove Duplicates command on the Data tab for a table.

3. Remove duplicates using a formula

You can enter a formula to help you identify duplicates that may have extra spaces and are not recognized as a duplicate.

The following strategy includes:

• The TRIM function to remove spaces between words as well as leading and trailing spaces
• The CONCATENATE operator (&) to combine cells (although you can use the CONCATENATE or CONCAT functions as well)

You will need to create a new calculated column (or helper column) in your data and then you can use the Remove Duplicates command.

For example, if you wanted to combine the data from A2 and B2 and remove extra spaces in a cell (such as C2), you could create the following formula:

=TRIM(A2) & TRIM(B2)

In the following example (which includes first names and last names), we’ve entered a formula =TRIM(A2) & TRIM(B2) in C2 and then copied the formula down to the cells below by dragging the Fill handle on the bottom right corner of the cell:

If you want to combine cells from columns in a table (which includes columns for first name and last name) and remove extra spaces, you could create the following formula in the first data cell in a new calculated column as a structured reference formula where you refer to field names:

=TRIM([@[First Name]]) & TRIM([@[Last Name]])

Excel will populate the formula for the entire column when you press Enter.

In the table example below, the structured reference formula using TRIM and the CONCATENATE operator is entered in C2 and Excel color codes the references:

If there are no spaces in the field names, you can enter the formula in C2 in the table as follows:

=TRIM([@FirstName]) & TRIM([@LastName])

Once you have created the helper or calculated column, to remove duplicates, click in the data set or table and use the Remove Duplicates command in the Ribbon (using the methods above) and check only the calculated column in the dialog box.

For other ways to combine cells, check out How to Combine Cells in Excel Using CONCATENATE (3 Ways).

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More resources

How to Merge Cells in Excel (4 Ways with Shortcuts)

How to Insert Multiple Rows in Excel (4 Fast Ways with Shortcuts)

3 Excel Strikethrough Shortcuts to Cross Out Text or Values in Cells

Use Conditional Formatting in Excel to Highlight Dates Before Today (3 Ways)

How to Replace Blank Cells in Excel with Zeros (0), Dashes (-) or Other Values

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Learn how to find, filter, and remove duplicates in Excel using quick and creative methods. If you are working with large data tables, it’s helpful to find unique values or remove duplicate values.

Our goal is to show you how to use Excel’s built-in data cleansing tools to find unique values in single or multiple columns.

Here we go; let us see how it works.

Table of contents:

1. How to remove duplicates in Excel for a single column
2. Find and remove duplicates in Excel for multiple columns
3. Filtering for unique values and removing duplicate values
4. Find and remove duplicate values using Conditional Formatting
5. Remove duplicate data using Power Query
6. Use Excel UNIQUE function to remove duplicates
7. Working with Pivot Tables
8. Find and remove duplicates using Formulas
9. Build a macro to remove duplicate values
10. Use DataXL free add-in

Download the practice file.

What is a duplicate value? Things to consider…

A comparison of duplicate values depends on what appears in the cell. So it’s not about the original value stored in the cell. Check the example below!

Let’s say that our range contains the same date value in multiples cells with various formatting.

If we apply the ‘Remove duplicates’ command, we will get unique values without duplicates. Why? We are talking about unique values, but the cell format is different!

We recommend you format the data before you start using the function.

Tip: The remove duplicates tool, delete your duplicates permanently.

How to remove duplicates in Excel for a single column

In the first example, we’ll show you how to check for duplicates from a single column (list) and keep unique rows. As first, select the range which contains duplicated values.

1. Locate the ribbon, and click on the Data Tab.

2. A new window will appear by clicking on ‘Remove Duplicates.’

3. Finally, click the OK button. A small message box will appear. It contains helpful information about the numbers of removed duplicates and unique values. Click OK to close the window.

Important: Now, decide your data contains a header or not. If your range has a header, make sure the status of the ‘My list has headers’ box is checked. If you don’t do that, you’ll get a false result.

Find and remove duplicates in Excel for multiple columns

If you want to remove duplicates in more than one column (and keep unique rows), use the following method. At first glance, the’ Remove Duplicates’ is a swiss knife in Excel. But we kindly ask you, use it carefully. We’ll show you why. If you use the tool on a range containing multiple columns, the results can be different.

There are three sample outputs for the ‘Rep,’ ‘Regions,’ and ‘OrderDate’ columns in the examples below. First, as we mentioned before, click on the ribbon and select the ‘Remove Duplicates’ command.

Example 1

The first image displays all the duplicates based only on the Sales rep. After removing duplicates, nine unique values remain.

Example 2

The second image shows all the duplicates based on the Rep and Region columns. After clicking OK, based on two columns, Excel removes four duplicate values, and ten unique values remain.

Example 3

The third image shows all the duplicates based on all columns in the table. In this case, 12 unique values remain.

Don’t forget: Before we start, let’s quickly compare removed items to check how the different filters work. You can check for duplicates in many different ways, and it depends on your task.

Filtering for unique values and removing duplicate values

This part of the tutorial will explain the differences between filtering (hiding) and removing duplicate values. At first glance, there are two similar tasks: their objective is to create a list of unique values.

It’s a smart decision to apply filters before removing duplicates. Try to switch the advanced filter on or use simple conditional formatting to avoid unexpected results.

To filter unique values, follow the steps below.

1. Select the range or a table. Tip: It’s good enough to select a single cell in a range.

2. Click the Data Tab and select the ‘Advanced Filter‘ under the ‘Sort & Filter’ group.

3. Now, the ‘Advanced Filter’ box appears. You have two choices to apply the filter.

In the first example, we temporarily hide the duplicate values and keep the list in place. To do that, select ‘Filter the list, in-place,’ check the ‘Unique records only’ box. Then, click OK to close the window.

Check the result! If you are using an advanced filter for unique values, duplicates are only hidden temporarily. Take a closer look at the picture below! This is a filtered list that contains all records.

In the second example, we’ll show you how to copy the unique records to another location and keep the original list in place. To do that, select the ‘Copy to another location’ checkbox, then select the unique records only. Click OK. Finally, select the target location to copy the result to another worksheet.

Find and remove duplicate values using Conditional Formatting

Conditional formatting is a versatile tool; we love it! Let’s see how to highlight duplicate values in a single column:

As first, we have to talk about an important step. It’s important to select all cells in a range! It is a limitation of formatting rules.

Go to the Home tab and locate the Style group.

Click the small arrow for Conditional Formatting from the drop-down list, and then click Highlight Cells Rules. Finally, select Duplicate Values.

The method is perfect if we want to remove duplicates in a single column.

How to find unique or duplicate values using multiple columns?

Because conditional formatting cannot work with records across rows, we will apply a small trick. First, create a helper column and use the CONCAT function to create a single string without spaces.

We’ll use this combined column to check for duplicates in more than one column.

The first three steps are the same as the single-column example:

Click Conditional Formatting > Highlight Cells Rules > Duplicate values.

Select the’ Duplicate’ option from the drop-down list if you want to highlight the duplicate values for three columns. Then, apply a built-in or a custom formatting style. The result is below:

Tip: If you need to take a quick overview of duplicates, use the Quick Analysis Tool.

Select the range which contains duplicates. A small icon will appear at the end of the range. Choose the ‘Formatting’ tab and select ‘Duplicates’ from the list. You can use the ‘Ctrl + ‘Q’ shortcut too.

Find And Remove Duplicate Data using Power Query

Select the range that you want to add to the Power Query Editor. Then, select the Data Tab in the ‘Get and Transform’ section, choose the ‘From Table / Range’ option.

Now the Power Query window appears. In this case, select the first column, ‘Rep.’ Right-click and apply the ‘Remove Duplicates’ command.

Working with multiple columns

The Power Query-based method works on single or multiple ranges.

Example 1: If you need to find duplicate rows based on the entire table, hold the ‘Control’ key and select the column by clicking headers.

Example 2: Quick tip to keep distinct values based on the entire range: Check the table icon on the first column’s header. Right-click, then click remove duplicates. It’s easy!

Pivot Tables

In this example, we’ll show you how to remove duplicates using Pivot Tables.

1. Select data.
2. Click the Home Tab and Insert a Pivot Table.
3. Make sure to drag all three fields into the Rows section.

Go to the Design Tab and transform the Pivot table using the steps below.

Click on the Pivot Table area:

• Select ‘Subtotals’, and click ‘Do Not Show Subtotals‘
• Switch off showing ‘Grand Totals’ using the drop-down list
• Under the ‘Report Layout’ section click ‘Show data in Tabular Form’ and ‘Repeat All Item Labels’

Good to know that the Pivot table lists unique values only. If you create a proper report layout, the Pivot table removes duplicate rows.

Create a unique list using Excel UNIQUE function

If you are using the latest Office release (Office365+ and above), we have good news. Using the UNIQUE function, you can create a unique list in one single step.

This function is currently available only to Microsoft 365 subscribers.

Find and remove duplicates using classic Formulas

A comparison of duplicate values depends on what appears in the cell. So, it’s worth using formulas and functions to remove duplicates properly.

Let’s see the example below!
We will create a helper column and join the data, which are in three columns. But, first, add a name to the new column, in this case, ‘Joined records.‘

Combine the records using the Excel CONCAT function:

=CONCAT(Rep, Region, OrderDate)

With the help of the COUNTIFS function, we’ll take a quick overview of the number of duplicate values. Create a new column, ‘Count Duplicates.’

Enter the formula, then evaluate:

=COUNTIFS($D$2:$D$15,D2)

The result:

Copy the formula down until cell E15. The COUNTIFS function will show the duplicates quickly.

Take a closer look at the output:

• We are talking about distinct values if the result = 1
• If it’s greater than 1, the value appears in the list more than once

I’ve just highlighted the duplicate values using orange fill.

To remove duplicates apply a filter using the Ctrl + Shift + L keyboard shortcut and select the duplicate rows using the drop-down list.

Build a macro to remove duplicate values

Okay, if VBA is your friend, we’ll show some small snippets to keep unique rows.

Tips:

• If the range does not have a header, then use Header:=‘xlNo’
• If the range has header, then use Header:=‘xlYes’

Example 1: Our range is A1:C15, the range has a header, and we want to remove duplicates from the first column. The code is the following:

Sub Example1()
Range("A1:C15").RemoveDuplicates Columns:=1, Header:=xlYes
End Sub

Example 2: The range is the same as above, and we want to remove duplicates from the first and the third columns:

Sub Example2()
Range("A1:C13").RemoveDuplicates Columns:=Array(1, 3), Header:=xlYes
End Sub

Use DataXL free add-in

DataXL is our answer to data cleansing challenges! Coming soon!

Additional resources:

• Freeze Panes in Excel