When it comes to maintaining data entries, one of the common issues faced by many users are duplicates or duplicate entries. For example, imagine that you have the details of people collected from a survey. When you list them using your spreadsheet software such as Google Sheets, there is a possibility of duplicate records. That is, one person might have filled the survey more than once, and hence Google Sheets would list the entry twice. Such duplicate entries are more troublesome when it comes to businesses. Imagine if a cash transaction is entered in the records more than once. When you calculate the total expenses with that data, it would be an issue. To avoid such situations, one should ensure that there are no duplicate records in the spreadsheet. How to achieve this? Well, in this guide, you will discuss 6 different ways to remove duplicates in Google Sheets. Come on, without further introduction, let us take a peek into the topic.
How to Remove Duplicates in Google Sheets?
Duplicate records are really troublesome in the case of maintaining data records. But you need not worry as you can easily remove duplicate entries from your Google Sheets spreadsheet. Let us see some ways in which you can get rid of duplicates in Google Sheets.
How to Remove Duplicates in Google Sheets? Method 1: Using the Remove Duplicates Option Method 2: Remove Duplicates with Formulae Method 3: Remove Duplicate Entries with Conditional Formatting Method 4: Remove Duplicate Records with Pivot Tables Method 5: Using Apps Script Method 6: Use Add-on to Remove Duplicates in Google Sheets
Method 1: Using the Remove Duplicates Option
Google Sheets has a built-in option to remove entries that are repetitive (duplicate entries). To use that option, follow the illustration below.
- For example, take a look at this (see screenshot below). Here you can see that the record “Ajit” is entered two times. This is a duplicate record.
2. To remove the duplicate entry, select or highlight the rows and columns. 3. Now click on the menu option labelled Data. Scroll down then click on the Remove duplicates option.
4. A pop-up box will come up, asking which columns to analyze. Choose the options as per your needs and then click on the Remove duplicates button.
5. All duplicate records would be eliminated, and unique elements would remain. Google Sheets will prompt you with the number of duplicate records that were eliminated.
- In our case, only one duplicate entry was removed (Ajit). You can see that Google Sheets has removed the duplicate entry (refer to the screenshot that follows).
Method 2: Remove Duplicates with Formulae
Formula 1: UNIQUE Google Sheets has a formula named UNIQUE that retains unique records and would eliminate all duplicate entries from your spreadsheet. For Example: =UNIQUE(A2:B7)
- This would check for duplicate entries in the specified range of cells (A2:B7).
- Click on any empty cell on your spreadsheet and enter the above formula. Google Sheets would highlight the range of cells that you specify.
3. Google Sheets will list the unique records where you typed the formula. You can then replace the old data with the unique records.
Formula 2: COUNTIF You can use this formula to highlight all duplicate entries in your spreadsheet.
For Example: Consider the following screenshot that contains one duplicate entry.
In the above screenshot, at cell C2, let’s enter the formula as, =COUNTIF(A$2:A2, A2)>1
Now, once the Enter key is pressed, it will show the result as FALSE.
4. Move the mouse pointer and place it over the small square at the bottom portion of the selected cell. Now you will see a plus symbol instead of your mouse cursor. Click and hold on that box, and then drag it up to the cell where you want to find the duplicate entries. Google sheets would automatically copy the formula to the remaining cells.
- Google Sheet will automatically add “TRUE” in front of duplicate entry. NOTE: In this condition, we have specified as >1 (greater than 1). So, this condition would result TRUE in places where an entry is found more than once. In all other places, the result is FALSE.
Method 3: Remove Duplicate Entries with Conditional Formatting
You can also make use of conditional formatting to eliminate duplicate records from Google Sheets.
First, select the data set on which you would like to perform conditional formatting. Then, from the Menu select Format and scroll down then choose Conditional formatting.
Click on the Format cells if… drop-down box, and choose the Custom Formula option.
3. Enter the formula as =COUNTIF(A$2:A2, A2)>1 Note: You need to change the row & column data according to your Google Sheet.
This formula would filter records from column A.
Click on the Done button. If column A contains any duplicate records, Google Sheets will highlight the repeated entries (duplicates).
Now you can easily delete these duplicate records.
Method 4: Remove Duplicate Records with Pivot Tables
As pivot tables are fast-to-use and flexible, you can use it to find & eliminate duplicate records from your Google Sheet. First, you will have to highlight the data in Google Sheet. Next, create a pivot table and again highlight your data. To create a pivot table with your dataset, navigate to the Data under the Google Sheet menu and click on the Pivot table option. You will be prompted with a box asking whether to create the pivot table in the existing sheet or a new sheet. Choose a suitable option and proceed. Your pivot table will be created. From the panel on the right, choose the Add button near Rows to add the respective rows. Near the values, choose to Add a column to check for duplication of values. Your pivot table would list the values with their counts (i.e. number of times the value occurs in your sheet). You can use this to check for the duplication of entries in Google Sheet. If the count is more than one, that means the entry is repeated more than once in your spreadsheet.
Method 5: Using Apps Script
Another great way to eliminate duplicated from your document is by using the Apps Script. Given below is the apps-script to get rid of duplicate entries from your spreadsheet:
Method 6: Use Add-on to Remove Duplicates in Google Sheets
Using an add-on to eliminate duplicate entries from your spreadsheet can be beneficial. Several such extensions turn out to be helpful. One such add-on program is the add on by Ablebits named “Remove Duplicates”.
- Open Google Sheets, then from Add-ons menu click on the Get add-ons option.
2. Choose the Launch icon (highlighted in the screenshot) to launch the G-Suite Marketplace.
3. Now search for the Add-on you need and install it.
4. Go through the description of the add-on if you wish and then click on the Install option.
Accept the necessary permissions to install the add-on. You may have to sign in with your Google account credentials. After you have installed the add-on, you can easily remove duplicates from Google Sheets. Recommended:
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We hope this information was helpful and you were able to easily remove duplicate entries from Google Sheets. If you have any suggestions or questions in your mind, make use of the comments section to ask them.
