May be it only happens around Halloween!  <g>

Maybe! I hadn't thought of that, perhaps dark forces are at work here <g>
Regards,
Alan.
May be it only happens around Halloween!  <g>

When you click reply, you will see ...... "wrote in message," earlier I saw
Greek.

Can't find it, otherwise I would have shown it to you.

Epinn

'I don't understand Ash's need entirely.'

Neither do I. I would have thought that only one column would need to be
checked at a time, but maybe not.
Curious about the disappearing '>' though isn't it? I've looked at these
groups for quite some time and I've never come across that before,
Regards,
Alan.
"Epinn" <someone@example.com.NO_SPAM> wrote in message
news:ONdz808%23GHA.2180@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
Alan,  I don't understand Ash's need entirely.  One interpretation is that
the columns A, C, E, G and I should be checked for duplicates simultaneously
and not by individual column.  I know duplicates are not allowed in a
column.  If a number exists in column A, can it also exist in column C?
Only Ash can tell.

I wonder why others don't join the party?  Usually this subject attracts
quite a bit of attention.  May be we have too much of checking for duplicate
numbers and counting unique values lately.

Ash, feel free to do a search.  There are quite a few thread on this subject
recently.  Good info.

Epinn

Epinn,
I noticed that too, but only after I read Ash's second reply. When I read
the first one I just thought that I'd written the formula wrongly so I sent
the correct one a second time, thanks for pointing it out to me.
Ash,
You mention a circular reference, this is probably because you're entering
the formula in the range that it's searching. I can't really be specific on
your exact spreadsheet for obvious reasons, I'm just giving you a formula
that will highlight duplicates, you need to adapt yourself  to suit your
needs, if indeed it's suitable to you.
The formula =IF(COUNTIF(A$1:A$50,A1)>1,"Duplicate","") counts the number of
times that the exact contents of cell A1 occurs in the range A1:A50, if it
occurs more than once it will display "Duplicate", if not it will stay
blank. This needs to be in a cell out of the range it's searching otherwise
you will get the CR error message because it's searching a range that
includes itself.
Regards,
Alan.
"Epinn" <someone@example.com.NO_SPAM> wrote in message
news:uqLUd36%23GHA.1196@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
Ash and Alan,

This is what's happening.  I don't know what caused it though.

Both times Alan wrote this formula

=IF(COUNTIF(A$1:A$50,A1)>1,"Duplicate","")

which includes the greater than sign ">"  i.e. >1.

However, when Ash replied, the message quoted dropped the greater than sign.

It read:  Alan wrote .......

=IF(COUNTIF(A$1:A$50,A1)1,"Duplicate","")

See how the message dropped the greater than sign from the formula?

Ash, make sure you have >1 in the formula.  Try to type in the formula
instead of copy/paste.  If your last column is J, try to use column k or l
or m for the formula.

You said you had 12 columns.  So, I don't understand why you said earlier
your last column would be J?  A to J = 10 columns.  I am lost.

Epinn

Alan Wrote:

Alan - I know you are trying to help me and I really appreciate it. But
you gave me the same formula again. I am getting an error message every
way i tried. when I select the whole spreadsheet and put the formula
below data cells I get a circular ref error.
I can email you if you want. My email is darnallash@yahoo.com

Hi Ash

It is unclear what you are trying to achieve.
What does each row represent, a different employee?
What does each column represent?
Can you provide more detail with a sample of a couple of rows of data,
and a further explanation of what you want to achieve.
Because of text wrapping with 12 columns worth of data, it will be
clearer if you post the sample in a transposed way, with columns going
down the screen, and rows going across the screen

Col,    Row 1           2        3
A,Monthly Salary,2000,2500
B,Annual Salary,24000,30000
C,BA Add'n,5%,6%
etc.