Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Filtering Columns for Unique Values.

Filtering Columns for Unique Values

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 12, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

It is not unusual to acquire or develop data tables that have duplicate values in a column. If you want to see only the unique values, without the duplicates, you want to filter your data table. Excel makes this rather easy for must scenarios. For instance, let's say you have a data table in which you have part numbers in column A. If you want to filter the list so you see only unique part numbers, you can follow these steps:

  1. Select one of the cells in the list of part numbers.
  2. Choose Filter from the Data menu, then choose Advanced Filter. Excel displays the Advanced Filter dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The Advanced Filter dialog box.

  3. I always like to choose the Copy to Another Location option.
  4. In the Copy To field, specify the cell where you want the list of unique, filtered values to be copied.
  5. Make sure the Unique Records Only check box is selected.
  6. Click on OK.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2754) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Filtering Columns for Unique Values.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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