It is easy – much too easy – to allow duplicate records to creep into an Excel database. Fortunately, starting in Excel 2007, it is really easy to first find and then delete duplicate records.
Remove Duplicate Records
With the price of postage climbing, you cannot afford to send duplicate copies of a mailing piece. Not to mention that doing so reflects poorly on your company’s organizational skills. Likewise, having duplicate account entries makes for extra work and confusion.
Use Conditional Formatting to Highlight Duplicate Records
Starting in Excel 2007, Conditional Formatting got a lot easier to use. One of the menu selections is “Show Duplicate Records.” Now, with just a few mouse clicks, you can format the records that show duplicate values in your data set. I like to use this technique prior to acutally duplicating records so that I can get a sense of the number of possible duplicate records in my data set.
Selecting Duplicate Records to Delete
As a best practice, I always make a backup copy of my data set before I actually delete records. This way, I can quickly recover from any accidental deletions of non-duplicate records. When you choose the command to “Remove Duplicates,” a dialog box opens to reveal each field in your data set. Generally, you want to select all of the fields to narrow down the list of records to delete. Since I have already previewed the possible duplicate records by using Conditional Formatting, I have a pretty good idea of how many records will be deleted. You do not see a preview of the exact records that will be deleted, so make sure that you have a backup copy of your original list in order to restore any “accidental” deletions.
These new commands and menus introduced in Excel 2007 make deleting duplicate records a very quick process. Use them – wisely – to save yourself time, confusion and money!
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How to Find and Remove Duplicate Records in Excel 2007 [ 4:26 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1082)
Hi! here I posted two ways of doing it:
http://runakay.blogspot.com/2011/02/feature-on-excel-20072010-to-remove.html
Thank you for linking to your examples. Excel 2007 / 2010 have certainly made it easy to isolate and then “Remove Duplicates” that appear in multiple fields for a record. I have advised my clients that if there was one – and only one – reason to upgrade to either Excel 2007 or Excel 2010 it is this – the Remove Duplicates feature. It will save you so much time – and so much money in the long run!
Danny Rocks
The Company Rocks
its great ! Thanks for share us