Keeping unique records in Excel

In data analysis, one of the most common task is the creations of summaries. To be able to do this, the first step you need to do would be to create a unique list of the field you need to summarized. There are many ways to do this and I am going to share with you the simplest one.



1. Go to the column containing the data to be analyzed. Note: the first top cell in the column will be treated as a header/label.

2. From the menu, choose Data, then Filter, then Advanced Filter.... You should see something similar to the screen below:



3. Once you clicked the Advanced Filter option, a pop up window will show you the Advance Filter options. Tick the Unique records. To determine where the results will be saved, choose between Filter the list, in-place (to keep the results in the same column) or Copy to another location. I usually want my results in another column. If you are like me, you need to specify the target location. See example below which saves the results in column D.



4. Once you have selected your options, click OK. You should see the unique records after.

That's all you need. It can't be any simpler than that.