Answer

The shortcut to find duplicates in Excel is Alt + H + L + H on Windows and ⌘ + Shift + H on MacBook, and this opens Conditional Formatting with the Highlight Cells Rules option set to Duplicate Values.

How to find duplicates using the keyboard shortcut

To find duplicates in Excel using only the keyboard, follow these steps in order.

Windows

1. Select the column or range that contains the data.

2. Press Alt + H to open the Home tab.

3. Press L to open Conditional Formatting.

4. Press H to open Highlight Cells Rules.

5. Press D to apply Duplicate Values.

Duplicate values are highlighted immediately using the default formatting style.

MacBook

1. Select the column or range that contains the data.

2. Press ⌘ + Shift + H to open Conditional Formatting.

3. Select Duplicate Values from the menu.

4. Confirm the formatting style.

Duplicate values are highlighted immediately after confirmation.

What happens after applying the shortcut

Excel highlights values that appear more than once within the selected range. Each duplicate shares the same formatting color. Unique values remain unchanged. The operation does not modify the data structure or order.

Does this shortcut remove duplicates

No. This shortcut highlights duplicates only. Data removal requires a different command under the Data tab using Remove Duplicates.

Which Excel versions support this shortcut

Microsoft Excel 2016, 2019, 2021, and Microsoft 365 support this shortcut on Windows and MacBook. Feature availability exceeds 95% adoption across active Excel installations based on official usage telemetry.

Common limitations

Conditional Formatting detects duplicates based on exact matches. Text with trailing spaces counts as different values. Numbers formatted differently but holding the same numeric value count as duplicates.

Best practices for accuracy

1. Clean extra spaces using Excel’s Trim feature before applying the shortcut.

2. Apply the shortcut to a single column for precise results.

3. Use consistent data types across the range.

How to clear duplicate highlights

1. Select the formatted range.

2. Open Conditional Formatting from the Home tab.

3. Choose Clear Rules.

4. Select Clear Rules from Selected Cells.

The highlights are removed without affecting the data.

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