If first time value shows up, then...

[Vical Kristianes]

Hi all! need help here

I have a table of 2 columns, 1st column is a list of name and 2nd column is some detail.
I need a formula in the 3rd column to tell me whether the name on current row has showed up before or not on the list.
So the first time a name shows up it will put "first" in it, the next time will leave it blank.

I was using this formula for months :
=IF( COUNTIF( $A$2:$A2, $A2 ) =1 , "FD" , "RD" )

This formula works exactly as needed for a while, but after a few months, as my list growing up it kinda slows down the spreadsheet soooo much.
I am guessing it is due to the formula not being absolute reference. And i can't make it as an arrayformula.

Watched so many videos and tutorials but nothing seems to work.
Any help will be much much appreciated!

[janmorris]

is this for Office 365 on macOS, or for Google Sheets?

you mentioned the first occurrence to be marked "first, and subsequent to be blank, so your current formula should be:

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if you "Format as Table" then the new rows will automatically be added similar to an array.

[Vical Kristianes]

Hi Jan! Thanks for replying!
I use both program, Excel - M. Office for my offline files, and Google Sheets for online needs. But the question above is for Google sheets.

Up until now i use the same formula as the one you're suggesting but as time goes on and the table grows bigger and bigger, i found this formula to be inconvenience.
Works perfectly on relatively small dataset, but gets slower on the big ones.
When i tried $A$2:$A for the range, it works fast just like other formula. but once i tried $A$2:$A2 it slows so much.

If there is any formula that does basically similar thing, it would be great.