Identifying Duplicate Values in an Excel List

Feb 8th 2013

33

rom time to time, you may need to identify duplicate values with a list in
Excel. Modern versions, including Excel 2007 and later, provide this

capability with just a few mouse clicks.

For good measure, I'll also describe a worksheet function-based approach that
works in any version of Excel.
As shown in Figure 1, you can easily identify duplicate invoice numbers in a list.
To do so:
Select the range of cells you wish to test. One way to do so is to click on a
single cell and then press Ctrl-A.
On Excel's Home tab, choose Conditional Formatting, Highlight Cells Rules,
and then Duplicate Values.
Click OK within the Duplicate Values dialog box to identify the duplicate
values.
Duplicate values in the list will now be identied.

(http://www.accountingweb.com/sites/default/les/Duplicates---Figure-1.jpg)
Figure 1: Excel's Conditional Formatting feature makes it easy to identify
duplicate values in a list.

You can then isolate just the duplicates, as shown in Figure 2:

Right-click on one of the duplicate cells, choose Filter, and then Filter by
Selected Cell's Color.
This collapses the list to show just the duplicate values, which you can copy
and paste to another worksheet, or otherwise manage, as shown in the inset in
Figure 2.

(http://www.accountingweb.com/sites/default/les/Duplicates---Figure-2.jpg)
Figure 2: Excel 2007 and later oer the ability to lter cells based on color.

To remove the conditional formatting, one approach is to click the Conditional

Formatting button, choose Clear Rules, and then Clear Rules from Entire
Worksheet, as shown in Figure 3.

(http://www.accountingweb.com/sites/default/les/Duplicates---Figure-3.jpg)
Figure 3: You can easily clear conditional formatting from a worksheet in Excel
2007 and later.


If you're using Excel 2003, you don't have the ability to lter by color, but you
can isolate duplicate values by way of the COUNTIF worksheet function. COUNTIF
has two arguments:
Range: This is a range of two or more cells that you wish to test.
Criteria: The value that you're seeking within the range.
Building on the example shown in Figure 1, you can add the following formula to
cell C2:

=COUNTIF(A:A,A2)

Once you've entered the formula, double-click on the Fill Handle in cell C2 to
copy the formula down the column. The Fill Handle is the little notch that most
users drag down a column when copying formulas.

You can then lter the list for any values greater than 1:

Excel 2007 and later

1. Click on cell A1 and then choose Filter on the Data tab of Excel's ribbon.
2. Click the Filter arrow in cell C1, choose Number Filters, and then Greater Than.
3. Enter 1, and then click OK to lter the list to for duplicate values.
Excel 2003 and earlier
1. Click on cell A1, then choose Data, Filter, and then AutoFilter.
2. Click the Filter arrow in cell C1 and then choose Custom.
3. Change Equals to Greater Than, Enter 1, and then click OK.
4.
5. Read Part 2 of this series (http://www.accountingweb.com/article/identifyingduplicate-values-excel-list-part-2/222287) to learn more ways to identify
duplicate items an Excel spreadsheets.


About the author:
David H. Ringstrom, CPA heads up Accounting Advisors, Inc., an Atlanta-based software
and database consulting rm providing training and consulting services nationwide.
Contact David atdavid@acctadv.com (mailto:david@acctadv.com ). David also presents
monthlyExcel webcasts (http://www.cpelink.com/instructor/detail.php?
i=73&s=f38j2xd)for AccountingWEB partner CPE Link.
Tags High impact Excel (/tags/high-impact-excel)

About the author

David Ringstrom, CPA (/prole/david-ringstrom)
David Ringstrom (mailto:david@acctadv.com), CPA, heads up
Accounting Advisors,an Atlantasoftware and database consulting rm
providing training and consulting services nationwide.

David Ringstrom, CPA (/prole/david-ringstrom)

Columnist

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By anon Jun 26th 2015 01:11

Neat. Take a look at ASAP Utilities for a collection of handy tricks such as this.
It's been a real time saver.

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By David Ringstrom Jun 26th 2015 01:11

Anon, yes, there are numerous free and paid utilities that can enhance Excel,
but I tend to focus exclusively on built-in functionality as not everyone has
the wherewithal or ability to install add-ins.

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By navneet Jun 26th 2015 01:11

ultimate..!!! i've been wandering for hours just to detect duplicate values in my
list of 2595 values. haha.. got 9 duplicates. Thankssssssssssssssssss...

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By matteo Jun 26th 2015 01:11

try 20,000 values, almost 1,000 of which are dupes. wow, that was awful

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By David Ringstrom Jun 26th 2015 01:11

I'm glad you both found my article helpful!

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By Mohd Yasir Jun 26th 2015 01:11

Hi David,
Please with your work.
i have a problem with my worksheet i have total 45000 lines and in which we
have repetaed data in one column.
with dierent values in corresponding cell.
i have another sheet that have 500 lines in this i have to make all values that
are coming in rst sheet
Please help me resolve my issues and if possible share your mail ID so that i
can explain u further

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