Combine columns, removing duplicates

**daviddoria** · 07-06-2009, 10:55 AM

I have the following setup
column A | column B

david | chris
john | david
ted | egore

What I want to do is combine the two column, but ignore duplicates, so the output would be

david
john
ted
chris
egore

How would I go about that?

Thanks,

David

**DonkeyOte** · 07-06-2009, 11:08 AM

Quickest method might to be to do:

C1: Name

Copy A1:Ax to C2 onwards
Copy B1:bx to Cx onwards (below existing names)

Run an advanced filter on C -> copying unique records to another location, ie D1 .

**daviddoria** · 07-06-2009, 11:14 AM

If there are thousands of names in each column, what is the best way to perform that "Copy A1:Ax to C2 onwards"? I'd imagine its not recommended to highlight copy/paste that much data?

**DonkeyOte** · 07-06-2009, 11:20 AM

Shouldn't matter too much... if you have lots & lots & lots of data I'd suggest saving & closing other files just in cash you have a memory issue.

You could possibly use keyboard shortcuts, assuming no blanks interspersed amongst names:

highlight A1 -> CTRL + SHIFT + DOWN ARROW -> CTRL + C -> go to C2 -> ALT + E -> S -> V -> OK
... rept for B pasting below last value in C

**daviddoria** · 07-06-2009, 05:07 PM

Ok i'm trying with a simple example so that we can disregard the combining columns problem. So say there is just a single column

david
kris
tony
hayley
kristy
john
david
test
hello
david

The result of the advanced filter without copying duplicates gets rid of one david, but not 2 (there are originally 3)

david
kris
tony
hayley
kristy
john
david
test
hello

why would that be?

Thanks,
Dave

**DonkeyOte** · 07-07-2009, 02:06 AM

In my post I mentioned that you should perhaps add "Name" above the first row of copied data... without it XL sees the first name as a header (ie David appears as header and then again as a unique value).

If above the first instance of David you entered Name and re-ran the entire process you should find David appears only once, the first instance of David being replaced by "Name".