Delete duplicate rows using data in column A as criteria

**murphy** · 01-13-2009, 12:59 PM

Hi all,

I have a spreadsheet that has thousands of rows of data with maybe 6 columns.

I would like to remove the duplicate rows but the problem I am facing is that I would like to use column A as the criteria.

There are some duplicates in column A but the issue is that the data in column B, C, D, etc may not be the same for each duplicate.

Easier to see in this image:
http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/6364/datajv6.jpg

So A1 is the same as A6
A1 has data in B1 and C1, no data in D1
A6 has data in B1, C1 and D1

I need to delete either row A1 or row A6, it is irrelevant which row it is but one of them has to go.

I am not very good at excel and VBA is way over my head so any help is appreciated.

**clownfish** · 01-13-2009, 01:09 PM

Well, there are probably 10,000 versions of this question on this forum already, but you can do the following in E2 (assuming your data start in row 2)

=IF(COUNTIF($A$1:$A1,$A2),"",A2)

fill across to the right for a total of 4 columns (E,F,G,H) then fill down the entire length of your dataset.

To remove formulas and get rid of blanks, highlight E:H, copy, Paste Special --> values--> OK Highlight E:H again, Data menu-->sort-->with Header row-->OK

that's your new dataset

**murphy** · 01-13-2009, 01:42 PM

That works perfectly .. Thanks a lot ..

Delete duplicate rows using data in column A as criteria

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