Suppose you have a very long list in a column in MS Excel and some of the entries are even repeated, but what you would like to see is a list of only unique values in the column?
Well I am pleased to tell you that this can definitely be accomplished fairly easily. The key here is that your column must contain only text entries. This tip will not work with numeric values. The other quantifier here is that there must not be an blank cells within your data in the column.
Follow the steps below to lean how to see your unique list of text values:
- In the column, right-click a cell and select Pick from drop-down list.
- A unique list of values will be displayed in alphabetic order.
- Alternatively, instead of using your mouse and right-clicking, can hold down your ALT key and press the down arrow.
I am sure that you have all worked with large worksheets that contain the same text information over and over, such as names of salesmen, teachers, students, etc. Well you can really take advantage of this feature to make entering the oft-repeated text values in a column extremely easy.
Simply right-click the cell immediately below the list and select Pick from drop-down list and it will be inserted in the cell for you.
Here is another interesting little tidbit about this tip: If the top cell of the range uses a different format than the other cells in the range, its value will not be included in the drop-down list. This is very helpful if your column has a column heading.