Duplicate data is the bane of spreadsheet solutions, especially at scale. Given the volume and variety of data now entered by teams, itโs possible that duplicate data in tools like Google Sheets may be relevant and necessary, or it could be a frustrating distraction from the primary purpose of spreadsheet efforts.
The potential problem raises a good question: How do you highlight duplicates in Google Sheets?
Iโve got you covered with a step-by-step look at how to highlight duplicates in Google Sheets and find duplicates in Google Sheets, complete with images to ensure youโre on the right track when it comes to de-duplicating your data.
Table of Contents
- How to Find Duplicates in Google Sheets
- Highlighting Duplicate Data in Google Sheets
- Step-by-Step: How to Highlight Duplicates in Google Sheets (With Pictures)
- How to Highlight Duplicates in Multiple Rows and Columns
- How to Remove Duplicates in Google Sheets
How to Find Duplicates in Google Sheets
Google Sheets is a free, cloud-based alternative to proprietary spreadsheet programs and โ no surprise, since itโs Google weโre dealing with โ offers a host of great features to help streamline data entry, formatting, and calculations.
There are two ways to remove duplicates in Google Sheets: conditional formatting and the UNIQUE function. Iโll go over both below, but, before you start following along, I have two things to note:ย
- You can run multiple conditional formatting rules at a time, so you donโt need to delete any to run your conditional formatting rule to delete duplicates.ย
- You wonโt get an accurate duplicate count if you have any extra characters or spaces in your data, so you need to make sure your set is clean. Even an accidental extra space will count it as a separate data point.
Letโs dive into how you can highlight and remove duplicates in Google Sheets.ย
Highlighting Duplicate Data in Google Sheets
Google Sheets has all the familiar functions: File, Edit, View, Format, Data, Tools, etc., and makes it easy to quickly enter your data, add formulas for calculations, and discover key relationships.ย
While other spreadsheet tools, such as Excel, have built-in conditional formatting tools to pinpoint duplicate data in your sheet, Googleโs solution requires a little more manual effort.ย
So how do you automatically highlight duplicates in Google Sheets? While thereโs no built-in tool for this purpose, you can leverage some built-in functions to highlight duplicate data.
Step-by-Step: How to Highlight Duplicates in Google Sheets (With Pictures)
Hereโs a step-by-step guide to highlighting duplicates in Google Sheets:
Step 1: Open your spreadsheet.
Step 2: Highlight the data you want to check.
Step 3: Under โFormatโ, select โConditional Formatting.โ
Step 4: Select โCustom formula is.โ
Step 5: Enter the custom duplicate checking formula.
Step 6: Click โDoneโ to see the results.
Step 1: Open your spreadsheet.
First, head to Google Sheets and open the spreadsheet you want to check for duplicate data.
Step 2: Highlight the data you want to check.
Next, drag your cursor over the data you want to check to highlight it.
Step 3: Under โFormatโ, select โConditional Formatting.โ
Now, head to โFormatโ in the top menu row and select โConditional Formatting.โ You should then see a popup window titled โConditional format rules.โย
Step 4: Select โCustom formula is.โ
Next, you need to create a custom formula. Click the down arrow underneath โFormat cells if,โ and select โCustom formula isโ from the dropdown menu. Itโs the last option to choose from, so you can scroll right to the end.
Step 5: Enter the custom duplicate checking formula.
To search for duplicate data, we need to enter the custom duplicate checking formula, which for our column of data (A) looks like this:
=COUNTIF(A:A,A1)>1
The formula searches for any text string that appears more than once in a data set. The default highlight color is green, but you can change it by clicking on the paint can icon in the โFormatting styleโ menu.ย
Step 6: Click โDoneโ to see the results.
And voilร โ weโve highlighted the duplicate data in Google Sheets.
How to Highlight Duplicates in Multiple Rows and Columns
You can also highlight duplicates in multiple rows and columns if you have a larger data set. The process starts the same as above, but you enter an expanded data range in the Conditional format rules menu to account for all the cells you want to compare.ย
Iโll use the same example above as a starting point, but Iโll add a few more names so we use a formula to search across three columns: A, B, and C, and also across rows 1-10.
To start, repeat steps two – four from above, but enter the following equation during step 5:ย
=COUNTIF($A$2:G,Indirect(Address(Row(),Column(),)))>1
This will highlight all duplicates across all three columns and all ten rows, making it easy to spot data doppelgangers:
Find and Highlight Duplicates in Google Sheets With the Unique Function
Another way to find duplicates in Sheets is to use the UNIQUE function, which looks for the unique values in your designated range and produces a duplicate-free list. Hereโs the formula:ย
=UNIQUE(RANGE)
Note: This formula can only identify duplicates in a single column.ย
Thereโs only one step to this method, which is entering your formula into an empty cell. Continuing with the same data set from above, I entered =UNIQUE(A1:A10). The image below is my duplicate-free list (on the left).
To use the UNIQUE function to find duplicates in multiple columns and rows, use this formula:ย
ย =UNIQUE(TOCOL(RANGE))
A drawback to using the UNIQUE function to find duplicates in Google Sheets is that it spits out a separate duplicate-free list instead of highlighting and deleting them. It creates an added step since youโll have to manually remove duplicates with your new list as a reference, so I recommend this method for those with a smaller data set who donโt mind a few manual updates.ย
Alternatively, this method is an excellent option for producing a cleaned list to start fresh.
How to Remove Duplicates in Google Sheets
In addition to highlighting duplicates, you can also use Google Sheets to delete duplicates with the Data Cleanup feature. Below, Iโll show you how.
Step 1: Select any cell.
Step 2: Navigate to the header toolback, select โData,โ then โData cleanup,โ then โRemove duplicates.โ
Step 3: In the popup window, select the columns you want to delete duplicate data from, then select โRemove duplicates.
Note: If you have a sheet header, make sure to select โData has a header rowโ so itโs not included in the duplicate search.ย
All duplicates are now gone!
Dealing With Duplicates in Duplicates in Google Sheets
Can you highlight duplicates in Google Sheets? Absolutely. While the process takes more effort than some other spreadsheet solutions, itโs easy to replicate once youโve done it once or twice, and once youโre comfortable with the process you can scale up to find duplicates across rows, columns, and even much larger data sets.