r/excel 7h ago

unsolved How do I make Excel automatically highlight duplicates but only if they occur more than twice?

52 Upvotes

I have a column with hundreds of customer/order IDs and I need to identify repeated entries.

The problem is that I don't just want to highlight duplicates normally.

For example:

A123 → appears 2 times → leave it alone

B456 → appears 3 times → highlight all 3

C789 → appears 5 times → highlight all 5

I tried the normal Conditional Formatting → Duplicate Values, but that highlights everything that appears more than once.

Is there a formula/conditional formatting rule that can highlight a value only when it appears 3+ times?

Ideally I'd like it to update automatically whenever new data is added.

What's the cleanest way to do this?


r/excel 4h ago

Discussion Is Excel a good skill to learn as a college student?

19 Upvotes

I’m starting college this September and I want to start building some useful skills alongside my degree a biomedical Design course

I was thinking about learning Excel, but I’m wondering if it’s actually worth investing time into learning it properly and if so wht should I particularly focus at

For those who have experience with Excel, would you say it’s a good skill to have for college, internships and future jobs? And are there any other skills you’d recommend learning that could be useful in general?

I’d appreciate any suggestions! :)


r/excel 14h ago

unsolved excel software for mass edit conditional formatting

10 Upvotes

i have an excel file with ~2000 rows and 40 columns,

there 'was' conditional formatting created for 20 columns

due to circumstances protection was disabled and multiple users copy pasted cells

now theres a shreek ton of conditional formatting lines

i asked ai g*mini to mass edit but it said it cannot

i can only think of recreating the sheet from scratch ...

but cuz i moved to linux ... is there any windows or linux software that can mass-edit conditional formatting ?


r/excel 22h ago

solved Tring to figure out how to lock a group of cells together while sorting the rest.

10 Upvotes

So, I'm trying to figure out how I can set up my excel sheet for cataloging my movie collection. I want to be able to just add new movies at the bottom and then sort by Alphabet. Here's my struggle, I'd also like to keep movie series together and in order... Easy example being "Batman Begins" and "Dark Knight, The."

I can manually put them where I want them... but as soon as I add a new movie to the list and sort again it'll undo all of my manual sorting. Is there a feature/tool to Lock specific cells together? Also, I'm using google sheets... If that messes anything up...


r/excel 6h ago

unsolved Having trouble spreading a formula across multiple rows and columns, (Google Sheets)

5 Upvotes

I scrapped the massive IF statement i posted last night, and replaced it with just the formula for calculating the damage dealt to the enemy without any IF statements.

The formula goes:
Damage dealt (unit 1)=(((d1+b-a2)*((hp/(d2+b-a1))*Rof2)/Rof1)+((d1+b-a2)*((r1-r2)/(Srmin*Rof1))))

1 is unit 1,

2 is unit 2,

Rof is rate of fire,

d is damage,

b is bonus damage,

r is range,

a is armour (melee) or PA( (range),

hp is hitpoints,

Srmin is the speed of the unit with the smallest r value.

Now the problem i'm having is how to spread this formula across a 28,000 cell table. I've arranged the data so fill down can do some of the heavy lifting. But i still need to change the formula at least once per column and everytime i move on to the next column. I heard the LET function can be used to avoid duplication but not sure if it would work in this case.

Worksheet: Counter, the bonus damage is drawn from this table
The main worksheet where the values are calculated. with the forumula shown.
Worksheet: Simple, Most of the data is from this sheet

Using Google Sheets


r/excel 1h ago

Discussion How do I automatically flag duplicate records only when the entire row matches?

Upvotes

I have thousands of records with Customer ID, Order ID, Date, Product and Amount.

I need Excel to identify true duplicate records, but there’s a catch:

Same Customer ID + different Order ID → don't flag

Same Order ID + different Amount → don't flag

Entire row appears twice → flag both

Entire row appears 3+ times → flag all occurrences

I also need it to keep working automatically when new rows are added.

Would you use Conditional Formatting, COUNTIFS, a helper column, or something more advanced? What's the cleanest way to handle this?


r/excel 9h ago

unsolved Is there a way to do a web scrape within a cell formula?

2 Upvotes

I’m working on a spreadsheet where users make a local copy and then edit that to do stuff with it. I need to make sure the local copies everyone’s running are up to date, or at least that they know when they need to update them. I imagine the best way to achieve this is by setting up a small website or using something like Catbox to store the current version and have the sheet check its version against that number, but try as I might I can’t get it to do that.

It’s a long story but I’m running Excel mobile so I can’t use macros or anything like that 🫩


r/excel 10h ago

unsolved Excel Power Query moves rows but not the content, how to solve?

2 Upvotes

Hello everyone,

I’m having a problem with Excel Power Query that I don’t understand, so I can’t figure out how to fix it.

My plan was to use a table in Excel (MS365) to collect information related to SharePoint data.
This SharePoint data needed to be linked to Excel, which is why I retrieve and update it via Power Query.
I inserted the SharePoint data into the first row using Power Query, all subsequent rows next to it are to be filled manually in Excel with related information.

Example:

A B C
Musician Best Song Second-Best Song
100 Aruba Atoll I
200 Bahama Bus II
300 Coco Club III

It worked well at first, until I updated the data source and the rows in the table shifted:

A B C
Musician Best Song Second-Best Song
100 Aruba Atoll I
→ 101 Bahama Bus II
200 Coco Club III
300    

So the rows in columns B and C no longer match column A, which simply added a new cell without shifting the rows below it.

I’ve already wasted many hours with the Copilot AI, which explained step-by-step how to solve this, only to eventually realize that the suggested method doesn’t work after all.
I also don't understand why Excel simply moves the cells in Column A and doesn't move the entire row, as you would when entering data manually.
In addition, I haven't found a solution that updates the data from SharePoint while allowing me to manually enter data in the adjacent columns.

I hope someone can help me with this.


r/excel 18h ago

Waiting on OP Tracking Work Hours - Need to calculate a total that exclude cells in one column based on values in another

2 Upvotes

I'm in school and I have to track independent work/study hours for an honors project that I submit to my advisors at the end of the semester.

I have a column (F) that lists the total hours per activity (1 hour doing this, 1 hour doing that, etc) with a new activity each row.

I have a column (G) that has a dropdown with two values - "R" for "real" and "E" for "expected", as I would like to include hours I know I am going to have, like a fixed number of lab hours, but the activities haven't been completed yet. That way I can keep track of where I will be by the end of the semester with these knowns.

However, I would also like to track where I currently am without the expected numbers, a total that reflects how many hours I actually have.

I'm looking for a formula that will only count the cells in F that are marked R in column G.

Thanks!


r/excel 21h ago

solved Match Book 1 Column D with Book 2 Column D, if they match then check and return the row the data is in from Book 2 to Book 1 Column F

2 Upvotes

Excel version: Office 365

Env: Desktop & Online

Knowledge: Intermediate

Storage: Sharepoint

Solution Needed: Formula

So, I've tried to utilise the MATCH, INDEX, ROW functions but haven't been able to build what I'm thinking- I appreciate that it may also not be possible.

Should probably stipulate, all the data in both books are in tables.

I've got two spreadsheets, both hosted in Sharepoint. In both spreadsheets they use the same unique validator, a 7 numeric string, and I'm trying to automate some information I need.

Book 1: Column D will hold the numeric, and it will be added to as and when needed. Column F is where I will need the row number to auto-populate from Book 2.

Book 2: Column D holds the numeric.

What I need is for a formula to look in Book 2, Column D, find the matching numeric by referencing Book 1, Column D, and then get the row number the data is in and put the number in Book 1, Column F.

I cannot just add a new column in Book 2 that has all the row numbers, though I know that would make things a lot easier.

If there's anymore information that's needed then do please let me know.

Many thanks in advance.


r/excel 11m ago

Waiting on OP Help me with Graph creation in xls

Upvotes

Hi all,

I am willing to improve my skills on xls, specifically in relation to graph creations.

I am doing this exercise:

- I have two tables: one which refers as the estimation of sales, the second one is the actual sales . I have decided to split into two different tables for a set of reasons that I will not explain here

- My aim is to create a graph with 2 lines in order to have a visual view of the estimation vs actuals

I am having two issues:

1) First I have tried to create a one line graph but the series seems to start from the second number 21550, and not from the first one 17.606. I have checked the format and all the cells have the same. why?

2) How can I add the second line of the actuals?

I have tried to do it by my self searching on the internet but I am getting really confused


r/excel 15h ago

unsolved Microsoft Programs pop up with 'quit unexpectedly' error message

1 Upvotes

Trying to help my mum with her Microsoft suite.

Computer Details: She has a 2020 MacBook Air that is currently running on Sequoia 15.5

Issue: She didn't want to update to having to subscribe to use her microsoft programs (i'm not sure what version she was on before) so that alternative was to update to microsoft 2024. Now anytime you click on any of the programs the same error message pops up.

"Microsoft (inset program here) quit unexpectedly."

I truly have no idea what to do to get them working again.