✅ Excel Interview Challenge! 🧹📊

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿: How would you remove duplicate entries from a dataset while keeping the first occurrence?

𝗠𝗲: I'd use Excel’s built-in tools or formulas— the Remove Duplicates feature is fastest for most cases, but formulas give more control for audits.

🔹 Option 1: Built-in Tool (Quick & Easy)
1. Select your data range (include headers if any).
2. Go to Data > Remove Duplicates.
3. Check columns to scan for dups (e.g., just ID column for uniqueness).
4. Click OK—Excel keeps the first instance, removes the rest, and reports how many were deleted.

🔹 Option 2: Formula-Based (More Control)
Use COUNTIF to flag:
=IF(COUNTIF(A$2:A2, A2)=1, A2, "") (for column A; copy across/down)
– Scans from top (A$2:A2 locks start), marks first as value, others blank.
Filter blanks and delete rows for cleanup.

✔ Why it works:
– Built-in method auto-detects exact matches across selected columns, preserving the top occurrence without shifting data.
– Formula approach lets you review/audit before deleting, handling partial dups (e.g., by key column only)—great for large 2025 datasets with UNIQUE() in Excel 365 as a bonus: =UNIQUE(A:A).

🔎 Bonus Tip:
Use Conditional Formatting to visually spot duplicates:
Home > Conditional Formatting > Highlight Cells > Duplicate Values—color-code for quick scans before removal!

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