How do I identify dulicate rows in a spreadsheet?

[Guest]

I have a spreadsheet with over a thousand rows. That sheet contains five
columns. I am doing an average on column 5, but have some duplicates. I
want to identify those duplicates so that I can eliminate them. If columns
1, 2 and 3 are the same for any of the rows, the row(s) is a duplicate. Is
there an easy way to identify these duplicates quickly, using a function or
pivot table?

Thanks for any help!!
Jeff

 

[Guest]

I suggest sorting the table by column 1, then 2, then 3 (but first add a
column somewhere with consecutive line numbers if you want to be able to get
things back in their original order). Once sorted, make up a column for
identifying duplicates and use an IF like the following in each cell of this
column to find the duplicates.

=if(and(A1=A2, B1=B2, C1=C2),"X","")

Then eliminate any row with an "X" in it. These are your duplicates. Then
you can re-sort back to the original order, if desired.
- Will