When working with large amounts of data in a spreadsheet, you're bound to have duplicate records. Regardless of whether it was human error or robots that put them there, those duplicates can become cumbersome, messing up your processes and workflows.
Follow our steps below that will walk you through the process of identifying duplicates in a time-efficient manner.
Tip: Always make sure that there are no duplicates in product names; variant names; SKUs; barcodes (or any other identifiers) prior to uploading your products in bulk. Similarly, you can do the same for Emails that live within our Relationships tab.
Removing Duplicates in Google Sheets
For instance, to check if there are any duplicate SKUs or barcodes:
Select the SKUs column (e.g. Column B) 
From the Menu bar, click on Format > Conditional formatting > ‘Conditional format rules’ 
In the selected cell, click on ‘Format cells if’ and choose ‘Custom Formula is’ from the drop-down. 
Input this custom formula: =Countif(B:B, B1)>1 into the ‘Value or Formula’ box and click Done.
You'll see your SKUs that are duplicates being highlighted as shown in this example: 
Now, you can easily remove the duplicate SKUs or change them accordingly.
Removing Duplicates in Microsoft Excel
Using the same example as above, the steps vary just slightly on Microsoft Excel.
- Select the SKUs column (e.g. Column B)
- From the Home Menu, click on Conditional formatting > Highlight Cell Rules > Duplicate Values and select OK on the dialog box.
What this does is that it automatically highlights any SKUs that are duplicates. Now, you can easily remove the duplicate SKUs or change them accordingly.
| Note The same steps are applicable for other identifier columns such as product names, and variant names. |
There you have it. All duplicates are out of the way, and your file is ready to be uploaded!
