Excel Can't Find Duplicates???

[ilikeexcel]

I am working on an assignment and I have downloaded a rather large amount of data from multiple data sources. There are numerous duplicates in my dataset because each data source contains at least one datapoint that matches the datapoint of another source. A simple conditional format and search for duplicates would usually suffice. However, many of my data sources include an instance of their name in parenthesis at the end of each datapoint. The following is an example of my data:

Name Source Value **Does it find the duplicate**
Volvo AutosLTD $53,000 -------
Volvo (Cars.com) Cars.com $53,000 NO
Volvo (Auto Digest) Auto Digest $53,000 NO
Volvo Wheels $52,999 YES

In the above example, a conditional format highlighting the duplicate values would only find one of the three duplicate values.

I figured that I could simply do a Find by looking in Values and then Replace what I found with a blank. And after doing so, my table would look like as such:

Name Source Value
Volvo AutosLTD $53,000
Volvo Cars.com $53,000
Volvo Auto Digest $53,000
Volvo Wheels $52,999

But when I run a conditional format to highlight the duplicate values, Excel still does not pick up on these duplicates. I have made sure to only highlight only the one row I am interested in (Name) when I ran the conditional format. I don't know what's preventing Excel from highlighting the duplicate values. If I simply retype, say Volvo, underneath the entry I just made a change to (Find (Cars.com) & Replace with a blank), then the entry I just typed is highlighted but the one I made a change to is not.

Does anyone have any suggestions/comment? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Whizbang]

Please attach a sample workbook. Most likely either your cells are not exact duplicates, or your conditional formatting is not applied correctly.

It is hard to tell the structure of your data from your post, since any whitespace you added has been trimmed.

[ilikeexcel]

Whoops, yeah I see that my formatting got condensed. I guess what I am trying to ask is:

Is there a hidden property associated with cells in Excel that are populated via an importer/download and cells that are entered manually by the user?

Could the reason why my conditional formatting does not work be because my cells have a foreign property to them? If this is possible, do you know of a way to remedy the situation?

[Whizbang]

I do not believe that would be the case. The conditional formatting is looking at the value, and the value only. If, maybe, one value was of a text type, and another was, say, a date, then it could LOOK the same, but be different values, but I don't think this is the case for you.

The smallest things could mean a different value, however. A trailing space. A slight mispelling. Without seeting a sample workbook, I can't do more than suggest you double check to make sure the entire contents of the cell match exactly.

[ilikeexcel]

Thanks for the help. I figured it out thought. I looked at string lengths and it turns out that when I did the Find & Replace it keep an extra string. So I simply did a TRIM to remove the blanks.