How to Remove Duplicates and Keep First One in Excel

To remove duplicates and keep the first one in Excel, follow these steps:

1. Open your Excel spreadsheet and select the data range that contains duplicates.
2. Click on the 'Data' tab located in the top menu.
3. In the 'Data Tools' group, click on 'Remove Duplicates' button.
4. A 'Remove Duplicates' dialog box will appear. Make sure all the columns you want to check for duplicates are selected. If you only want to check specific columns, deselect the other columns.
5. Click 'OK'. Excel will remove the duplicate rows, keeping only the first instance of each duplicate.
6. A message will appear informing you of how many duplicates were removed and how many unique values remain. Click 'OK' to close the message.

Note that this process will permanently delete the duplicate rows from your spreadsheet. If you want to keep a copy of the original data, make sure to create a backup before removing duplicates.

Example

Let's assume you have the following data in your Excel spreadsheet:

A      B
1  Name   Age
2  John   25
3  Jane   30
4  John   25
5  Mark   35
6  Jane   30

To remove duplicates and keep the first one, follow these steps:

1. Select the data range A1:B6.
2. Click on the 'Data' tab and then click on 'Remove Duplicates'.
3. Make sure both 'Name' and 'Age' columns are selected in the 'Remove Duplicates' dialog box, then click 'OK'.
4. Excel will remove the duplicate rows (rows 4 and 6 in this case), keeping only the first instance of each duplicate.

Your data should now look like this:

A      B
1  Name   Age
2  John   25
3  Jane   30
4  Mark   35