Skip to main content

Kutools for Office ā€” One Suite. Five Tools. Get More Done.

How to use shortcut to remove duplicates in Excel column or row?

Author Sun Last modified

In Excel, the Remove Duplicates utility can help you to remove duplicates in a column, but do you know how to use a shortcut to remove duplicates in Excel column or row?

Remove duplicates by shortcut

Remove duplicates by shortcut

Actually, there is no simple shortcut to directly remove duplicates, but if you want to only use the keyboard to remove duplicates, it also can finish the job.

1. press Ctrl + Space to select the whole column of the active cell. (Press Shift + Space to select the whole row.)
A screenshot showing how to select a column in Excel using keyboard shortcuts

2. press Alt to display the shortcuts of each tab group, and press A which indicates the Data tab, and then press M to enable the Remove Duplicates dialog. see screenshot:

A screenshot showing the Excel Ribbon with keyboard shortcuts visible after pressing Al
Arrow down
A screenshot showing the Data tab selected with Remove Duplicates option in Excel

Note: If your data contains several columns, the Remove Duplicates Warding dialog box will pop out as below screenshot shown. Please press Tab key to move the cursor on the Remove Duplicates button, and press Enter key.
A screenshot of Remove Duplicates Warning dialog

3. Then use Tab key to move the cursor on OK button in the Remove Duplicates dialog, press Enter key twice to remove the duplicates in the dialog.
A screenshot of final step to confirm removal of duplicates in Excel

Easily Select Duplicate or Unique Values in Excel
If you're working with a range of data in Excel and need to highlight or select duplicate rows, how can you quickly manage this task? With Kutools for Excel, the Select Duplicate & Unique Cells feature allows you to quickly select duplicates or unique values in a range. You can also apply background and font colors to these duplicates or unique values, making your data stand out effortlessly.
Highlight all duplicates with Kutools

Kutools for Excel - Supercharge Excel with over 300 essential tools. Enjoy permanently free AI features! Get It Now

Best Office Productivity Tools

šŸ¤– Kutools AI Aide: Revolutionize data analysis based on: Intelligent Execution   |  Generate Code  |  Create Custom Formulas  |  Analyze Data and Generate Charts  |  Invoke Kutools Functionsā€¦
Popular Features: Find, Highlight or Identify Duplicates   |  Delete Blank Rows   |  Combine Columns or Cells without Losing Data   |   Round without Formula ...
Super Lookup: Multiple Criteria VLookup  |   Multiple Value VLookup  |   VLookup Across Multiple Sheets   |   Fuzzy Lookup ....
Advanced Drop-down List: Quickly Create Drop Down List   |  Dependent Drop Down List   |  Multi-select Drop Down List ....
Column Manager: Add a Specific Number of Columns  |  Move Columns  |  Toggle Visibility Status of Hidden Columns  |  Compare Ranges & Columns ...
Featured Features: Grid Focus   |  Design View   |   Big Formula Bar   |  Workbook & Sheet Manager   |  Resource Library (Auto Text)   |  Date Picker   |  Combine Worksheets   |  Encrypt/Decrypt Cells   |  Send Emails by List   |  Super Filter   |   Special Filter (filter bold/italic/strikethrough...) ...
Top 15 Toolsets:  12 Text Tools (Add Text, Remove Characters, ...)   |   50+ Chart Types (Gantt Chart, ...)   |   40+ Practical Formulas (Calculate age based on birthday, ...)   |   19 Insertion Tools (Insert QR Code, Insert Picture from Path, ...)   |   12 Conversion Tools (Numbers to Words, Currency Conversion, ...)   |   7 Merge & Split Tools (Advanced Combine Rows, Split Cells, ...)   |   ... and more
Use Kutools in your preferred language ā€“ supports English, Spanish, German, French, Chinese, and 40+ others!

Supercharge Your Excel Skills with Kutools for Excel, and Experience Efficiency Like Never Before. Kutools for Excel Offers Over 300 Advanced Features to Boost Productivity and Save Time.  Click Here to Get The Feature You Need The Most...

Office Tab Brings Tabbed interface to Office, and Make Your Work Much Easier

  • Enable tabbed editing and reading in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, Visio and Project.
  • Open and create multiple documents in new tabs of the same window, rather than in new windows.
  • Increases your productivity by 50%, and reduces hundreds of mouse clicks for you every day!

All Kutools add-ins. One installer

Kutools for Office suite bundles add-ins for Excel, Word, Outlook & PowerPoint plus Office Tab Pro, which is ideal for teams working across Office apps.

Excel Word Outlook Tabs PowerPoint
  • All-in-one suite ā€” Excel, Word, Outlook & PowerPoint add-ins + Office Tab Pro
  • One installer, one license ā€” set up in minutes (MSI-ready)
  • Works better together ā€” streamlined productivity across Office apps
  • 30-day full-featured trial ā€” no registration, no credit card
  • Best value ā€” save vs buying individual add-in