100 Computer Tips in 100 Days
Tip #99 - Excel Finding Duplicate Records
I just had to compare two email lists. One was my Gmail
contacts and the other was my Outlook contacts. I exported both of them to a
file, deleted all but the name and the email fields and copied and pasted them
into one file, but then what? Many of the names were duplicates but how to weed
them out? Then I remembered the Find Duplicates feature in Excel!
This easy-to-use feature is on the Data tab, Data Tools
Group (Data menu for Apple users). When you click the Find Duplicates option a window comes up asking in which
columns you want to find duplicates. In my case I indicated only the email
column but if you were trying to find all the duplicate records for people in
the list with the same first AND last name, you would check those columns
instead. Than click the OK button. Poof,
duplicates have disappeared. Excel will give you a report showing the number of
duplicates found.
Remember, Excel deletes the duplicate records without
confirming it so you might want to make a backup of the file before you delete
the duplicates.
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Finding the records have always been a very daunting task for me, but after going through your explanation I think it wold be easier for me now.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you found this tip. I just used this last week when I was cleaning up contacts from two email addresses. Find the duplicates and delete them...easy, easy, easy. Be on the lookout for more Excel tips coming soon as well as some videos of the techniques. Diane
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