How to highlight duplicates in excel

Answer

Highlighting duplicates in Excel is the process of marking repeated values so the repeated entries become visually identifiable. To highlight duplicates in Excel, Conditional Formatting applies a rule that checks repeated values in the selected range and formats them with a color.

Steps

1. You can just select the range that contains the values you want to analyze.

2. Go to Home on the Ribbon.

3. Select Conditional Formatting in the Styles group.

4. Choose Highlight Cells Rules.

5. Pick Duplicate Values.

6. Pick the formatting style from the dropdown.

7. Confirm with OK.

Excel highlights every record that appears more than once in the selected area.

Windows and Mac differences

Excel for Windows and Excel for Mac use the same path for this task. The layout and command names match across both systems.

How to highlight only specific duplicate conditions

Excel highlights all duplicates by default. A custom rule applies when you want specific behaviors, such as flagging duplicates that appear more than twice or duplicates within a row.

Highlight duplicates that appear more than twice

1. Select the target range.

2. Go to Home → Conditional Formatting → New Rule.

3. Pick Use a formula to determine which cells to format.

4. Enter the formula in the rule box:

   $=COUNTIF(\$A\$1:\$A\$100,A1)>2$
   

5. Choose your format.

6. Confirm with OK.

Excel highlights values that occur three times or more.

Highlight duplicates across multiple columns

1. Select the full table.

2. Go to Conditional Formatting → New Rule.

3. Choose Use a formula to determine which cells to format.

4. Enter:

   $=COUNTIF(\$A:\$D,A1)>1$
   

5. Apply the format and confirm.

Excel checks every column in the specified range for repeated values.

How to highlight entire rows with duplicate values

1. Select the entire table area.

2. Create a New Rule.

3. Choose Use a formula to determine which cells to format.

4. Enter:

   $=COUNTIF(\$A\$1:\$A\$100,\$A1)>1$
   

5. Choose a fill color and confirm.

Excel highlights the full row for every duplicate occurring in the key column.

How to remove highlighting after use

1. Select the formatted range.

2. Go to Conditional Formatting.

3. Select Clear Rules.

4. Pick Clear Rules from Selected Cells or Clear Rules from Entire Sheet.

Excel removes the formatting but keeps the data intact.

Advanced filtering behavior

Excel conditional formatting recalculates instantly when the list changes. Duplicates change when users add new entries, delete entries, or edit values; conditional formatting updates without manual refresh.

Key optimization terms related to the topic

• Conditional formatting

• Duplicate entries

• COUNTIF

• Repeated values

• Data validation

• Error checking

• Highlighted cells

• Workbook consistency

• Data preparation

• Spreadsheet cleanup

Yes · 0 No · 0 Add Comment · 0

Add ·

Report