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How to highlight duplicate values in different colors in Excel?

doc different colors duplicates 1

In Excel, we can easily highlight the duplicate values in a column with one color by using the Conditional Formatting, but, sometimes, we need to highlight the duplicate values in different colors to recognize the duplicates quickly and easily as following screenshot shown. How could you solve this task in Excel?

Highlight duplicate values in a column with different colors by using VBA code

arrow blue right bubble Highlight duplicate values in a column with different colors by using VBA code

In fact, there is no direct way for us to finish this job in Excel, but, the below VBA code may help you, please do as follows:

1. Select the column of values that you want to highlight duplicates with difference colors, then hold down the ALT + F11 keys to open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

2. Click Insert > Module, and paste the following code in the Module Window.

VBA code: Highlight duplicate values in different colors:

Sub ColorCompanyDuplicates()
'Updateby Extendoffice
    Dim xRg As Range
    Dim xTxt As String
    Dim xCell As Range
    Dim xChar As String
    Dim xCellPre As Range
    Dim xCIndex As Long
    Dim xCol As Collection
    Dim I As Long
    On Error Resume Next
    If ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.Count > 1 Then
      xTxt = ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.AddressLocal
    Else
      xTxt = ActiveSheet.UsedRange.AddressLocal
    End If
    Set xRg = Application.InputBox("please select the data range:", "Kutools for Excel", xTxt, , , , , 8)
    If xRg Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
    xCIndex = 2
    Set xCol = New Collection
    For Each xCell In xRg
      On Error Resume Next
      xCol.Add xCell, xCell.Text
      If Err.Number = 457 Then
        xCIndex = xCIndex + 1
        Set xCellPre = xCol(xCell.Text)
        If xCellPre.Interior.ColorIndex = xlNone Then xCellPre.Interior.ColorIndex = xCIndex
        xCell.Interior.ColorIndex = xCellPre.Interior.ColorIndex
      ElseIf Err.Number = 9 Then
        MsgBox "Too many duplicate companies!", vbCritical, "Kutools for Excel"
        Exit Sub
      End If
      On Error GoTo 0
    Next
End Sub

3. And then press F5 key to run this code, and a prompt box will remind you to select the data range that you want to highlight the duplicate values, see screenshot:

doc different colors duplicates 2

4. Then click OK button, all the duplicate values have been highlighted in different colors, see screenshot:

doc different colors duplicates 1

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Comments (94)
Rated 5 out of 5 · 1 ratings
mahmoud
mahmoud
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
it only applies to 5 duplicates then don't work
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EsA
EsA
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Works perfect.. Thanks alot...
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Rated 5 out of 5
EsA
EsA
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Works perfect.. Thanks alot..
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Rated 5 out of 5
Christina L
Christina L
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi, thank you for this, I am having an issue though.

When I hit F5 it brings up the macros screen instead of a prompt to select the column data selection so all I could see was to hit "run" however I then get an error message to say;

Compile error:

Ecpected: end of statement.

Can you help please?
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ALEJANDRO
ALEJANDRO
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Funcionó perfecto. Muchas gracias.
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pucci
pucci
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perfect, i love u
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hayyi
hayyi
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this code left some duplicates with no fill (often those with one pair) can u check the code why and give me new please? ps. document have 6000+ positions and sometimes 5 to 10 duplicates 
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skyyang
skyyang     hayyi
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hello, hayyi,Yes, as you said, the code in this article does not work well when there are lots of duplicate cells, in this case, you can try the below code:<div data-tag="code">Sub Colorduplicates()
On Error Resume Next
c = InputBox("Please enter the column heading you want to highlight cells", , "A")
r = Cells(65536, c).End(xlUp).Row
arr = Cells(1, c).Resize(r, 1).Value
Set d = CreateObject("scripting.dictionary")
For I = 1 To r
d(arr(I, 1)) = d(arr(I, 1)) + 1
Next I
ks = d.keys
its = d.items
For I = 0 To UBound(ks)
If its(I) > 1 Then
d.Item(ks(I)) = RGB(Int(Rnd * 99) + 99, Int(Rnd * 99) + 99, Int(Rnd * 99) + 99)
Else
d.Item(ks(I)) = xlNone
End If
Next
t = Cells(1, 256).End(xlToLeft).Column
For I = 1 To r
Cells(I, 1).Resize(1, t).Interior.Color = d(arr(I, 1))
Next
Set d = Nothing
End SubIf this code can help you, please let me know. Thank you！
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Zmusiclover
Zmusiclover
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Excel crashes everytime I attempt running one of your codes:
Dim xRg As Range
Dim xTxt As String
Dim xCell As Range
Dim xChar As String
Dim xCellPre As Range
Dim xCIndex As Long
Dim xCol As Collection
Dim I As Long
On Error Resume Next
If ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.Count > 1 Then
xTxt = ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.AddressLocal
Else
xTxt = ActiveSheet.UsedRange.AddressLocal
End If
Set xRg = Application.InputBox("please select the data range:", "Kutools for Excel", xTxt, , , , , 8)
If xRg Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
xCIndex = 2
Set xCol = New Collection
For Each xCell In xRg
On Error Resume Next
xCol.Add xCell, xCell.Text
If Err.Number = 457 Then
xCIndex = xCIndex + 1
Set xCellPre = xCol(xCell.Text)
If xCellPre.Interior.ColorIndex = xlNone Then xCellPre.EntireRow.Interior.ColorIndex = xCIndex
xCell.EntireRow.Interior.ColorIndex = xCellPre.EntireRow.Interior.ColorIndex
ElseIf Err.Number = 9 Then
MsgBox "Too many duplicate companies!", vbCritical, "Kutools for Excel"
Exit Sub
End If
On Error GoTo 0
Next
End Sub

I have tried running in safe mode and It still crashes. I'm in the most recent version of excel. Any suggestions?
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Sadie737
Sadie737
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Hi, is there any way to have this code ignore empty cells? When I put in the code it highlighted all of the empty cells and I need them to be blank.Thank you!
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skyyang
skyyang     Sadie737
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi, Sadie,To ignore the empty cells, please apply the below code:<div data-tag="code">Sub ColorCompanyDuplicates()
'Updateby Extendoffice
Dim xRg As Range
Dim xTxt As String
Dim xCell As Range
Dim xChar As String
Dim xCellPre As Range
Dim xCIndex As Long
Dim xCol As Collection
Dim I As Long
On Error Resume Next
If ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.Count > 1 Then
xTxt = ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.AddressLocal
Else
xTxt = ActiveSheet.UsedRange.AddressLocal
End If
Set xRg = Application.InputBox("please select the data range:", "Kutools for Excel", xTxt, , , , , 8)
If xRg Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
xCIndex = 2
Set xCol = New Collection
For Each xCell In xRg
On Error Resume Next
If xCell.Value <> "" Then
xCol.Add xCell, xCell.Text
If Err.Number = 457 Then
xCIndex = xCIndex + 1
Set xCellPre = xCol(xCell.Text)
If xCellPre.Interior.ColorIndex = xlNone Then xCellPre.Interior.ColorIndex = xCIndex
xCell.Interior.ColorIndex = xCellPre.Interior.ColorIndex
ElseIf Err.Number = 9 Then
MsgBox "Too many duplicate companies!", vbCritical, "Kutools for Excel"
Exit Sub
End If
On Error GoTo 0
End If
Next
End SubPlease try, hope it can help you!
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Julie
Julie     skyyang
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Hello,
I there a way to highlight opposite instead of duplicate and ignore empty cells?
Thanks
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sajith
sajith
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IS THERE ANY VBA CODE TO HIGHLIGHT DUPLICATES BY DIFFERENT FONT COLORS?

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skyyang
skyyang     sajith
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hello, sajith,To highlight the duplicates with different font colors, please apply the below formula:<div data-tag="code">Sub ColorCompanyDuplicates()
'Updateby Extendoffice
Dim xRg As Range
Dim xTxt As String
Dim xCell As Range
Dim xChar As String
Dim xCellPre As Range
Dim xCIndex As Long
Dim xCol As Collection
Dim I As Long
On Error Resume Next
If ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.Count > 1 Then
xTxt = ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.AddressLocal
Else
xTxt = ActiveSheet.UsedRange.AddressLocal
End If
Set xRg = Application.InputBox("please select the data range:", "Kutools for Excel", xTxt, , , , , 8)
If xRg Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
xCIndex = 2
Set xCol = New Collection
For Each xCell In xRg
On Error Resume Next
xCol.Add xCell, xCell.Text
If Err.Number = 457 Then
xCIndex = xCIndex + 1
Set xCellPre = xCol(xCell.Text)
If xCellPre.Font.ThemeColor = xlNone Then xCellPre.Font.ThemeColor = xCIndex
xCell.Font.ThemeColor = xCellPre.Font.ThemeColor

ElseIf Err.Number = 9 Then
MsgBox "Too many duplicate companies!", vbCritical, "Kutools for Excel"
Exit Sub
End If
On Error GoTo 0
Next
End SubPlease try, hope it can help you!
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Sajith
Sajith     skyyang
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Thanks a lot. Can I have a email or something?
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sajith
sajith     Sajith
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It's not working. something wrong?
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