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How to quickly count the first instance only of values in Excel?

Author Sun Last modified

If there is a list with some duplicate and unique values, and now you want to count all the first instance of values including duplicates as below screenshot shown, do you have any quick and easy ways to solve this task in Excel?

A screenshot showing a dataset with duplicates and the count of first instance values

Count first instance of items with formula

Count first instance of items with Kutools for Excel

arrow blue right bubble Count first instance of items with formula

To count the first instance of items, you can use a formula to find all the first instance of values, and then count them.

1. Select a blank cell next to your data, and type this formula =(COUNTIF($A$1:$A1,$A1)=1)+0, press Enter key, and then drag the autofill handle down to the cell needed this formula. See screenshot:

Tip: With the formula $A$1 is the first cell of the data column, and $A1 is the cell you want to use. And get the result “1” indicates the corresponding cell is the first instance, and “0” is not.

A screenshot showing a formula being applied to count first instances
Arrow
A screenshot showing the result of the first instance counting formula

2. Then select a cell and type =SUM(B1:B10) and press Enter key to get the counting result of first instance. See screenshot:

Tip: In this formula, B1:B10 is the formula cells you used in step1, you can change it based on your need.

A screenshot showing the SUM formula to count first instances in ExcelArrow rightA screenshot showing the result of counting the first instances

arrow blue right bubble Count first instance of items with Kutools for Excel

If you have Kutools for Excel installed, and you can use its Select Duplicate & Unique Cells utility to quickly count the first instance of items, and also can highlight them if you need.

Kutools for Excel, equipped with AI 🤖, offers over 300 handy features to simplify your tasks.

After free installing Kutools for Excel, please do as below:

1. Select all the cells you want to count the first instance, and then click Kutools > Select > Select Duplicate & Unique Cells. See screenshot:

A screenshot showing the Select Duplicate & Unique Cells option on the Kutools tab on the ribbon

2. In the Select Duplicate & Unique Cells dialog, check All unique (Including 1st duplicates) option in the Rule section, and then you can choose whether fill the selected cells with background or font colors. See screenshot:

A screenshot of the Select Duplicate & Unique Cells dialog

3. Click Ok, and a dialog pops out to tell you the counting result of first instance in the selection. See screenshot:

A screenshot showing the result dialog with first instance count

4. Click OK to close the dialogs, and you can see all the first instance of the items are selected and highlighted.

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