How to highlight duplicates in column

Answer

To highlight duplicates in a column in Excel, follow these steps:

1. Select the column
   Click the header of the column you want to check for duplicates. For example, if you want to check column A, click on the "A" at the top.

2. Open Conditional Formatting
   Go to the Home tab on the ribbon. In the Styles group, click Conditional Formatting.

3. Choose Highlight Cells Rules
   From the dropdown menu, select Highlight Cells Rules, then click Duplicate Values….

4. Set formatting options
   In the dialog box that appears, Excel will detect Duplicate by default. Choose a formatting style from the dropdown (like Light Red Fill with Dark Red Text) to highlight duplicates clearly.

5. Apply the rule
   Click OK. All duplicate entries in the selected column will now be highlighted according to your formatting choice.

Notes and variations

• For multiple columns: Select all the columns you want to check before applying conditional formatting. Excel will check for duplicates within each column separately.

• For Mac users: The steps are the same, but the Conditional Formatting menu is found under the Home tab and sometimes labeled as Format > Conditional Formatting depending on the version.

• For dynamic highlighting: To ensure duplicates are highlighted even when new data is added, leave the formatting applied to the full column (e.g., A:A). Excel will automatically highlight new duplicates.

Example

If column A contains:

After applying the duplicate highlighting, Apple and Orange will be highlighted, while Banana will remain unformatted.

This method provides a quick visual check to identify repeated entries, helping prevent errors in lists, inventories, or datasets.

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