Getting Unique Values Only

Often times when you are working with Excel, you want to reduce a list of items so that only the unique instances are listed. In other words, if, within a column or list an item happens to be duplicated, you want that item to appear only once. Maybe you have a mailing list, for example, and fear that some customers may be entered more than once. Or perhaps you’ve been collecting emails and are now ready to send out promotional or “Thank you” emails, but don’t want to spam people with multiple messages.

Luckily, Excel makes it very easy to do this, saving you from yourself. In fact, there are two ways. One is simpler and built in to Excel’s multiple functionalities. The other is a bit more difficult and less intuitive, but is more flexible and dynamic. I explain them both to give you flexibility in dealing with these types of business problems. For my example, I use a simple list of animals where a couple of them (cat, bird) are each repeated.

Note: This tip is for Excel 2007, but is applicable, with a tweak or two, with other versions of Excel.

Method 1:

  1. Select data from which you want to retrieve only the unique values. Underline, or otherwise differentiate, the header so that Excel can recognize it as such.
  2. Under the “Data” Ribbon, select the “Advanced” Option.
  3. Under Action, select “Copy to another location.”
  4. The “List Range” should be populated with the data set selected in Step 1
  5. Choose the same range for the “Criteria Range” (I normally copy and paste) from above (the “List Range”)
  6. Check the box next to “Unique Records”
  7. Hit the “OK” button Read more of this post