How to Merge Lists Without Duplicates in Excel & Google Sheets

In this tutorial, you will learn how to merge lists without duplicates in Excel and Google Sheets.

 

merge lists without duplicates initial data

 

Merge Lists Without Duplicates

In Excel, you can merge two lists without duplicating any value by using the Remove Duplicates feature. Say you have two lists of names (in Columns B and C) like the ones in the picture below.

 

merge lists without duplicates initial data

 

To merge these two lists in Column B and remove all duplicate values, follow these steps.

  1. Select and right-click a second range that will be merged (C2:C6) and click Copy (or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + C).

 

merge lists without duplicates 1

 

  1. Right-click on the first empty cell after the first list (e.g., B10) and click Paste (or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + V).

 

merge lists without duplicates 2

 

  1. Now you have values from both columns in Column B, but there are some duplicates.
    To delete the duplicates, click anywhere in the first list (B2:B15), and in the Ribbon go to Data > Remove Duplicates.

 

merge lists without duplicates 3

 

  1. In the pop-up window, uncheck the second column and click OK.
    This will remove duplicates for the first column in your data range (Column B). The contents of the second column are irrelevant now that they’ve been copied over to Column B.

 

merge lists without duplicates 4

 

  1. You get the information message that three duplicate values are removed and ten unique values remain. Click OK.

 

merge lists without duplicates 5

 

Finally, you got the merged list of values from Columns B and C in Column B, without duplicates.

 

merge lists without duplicates final data

 

The names Lisa, Robert, and Steven are removed from the second list, as they were already present in the first list.

Note: You can also use VBA code to remove duplicates in a merged list.

Merge Lists Without Duplicates in Google Sheets

You can also merge lists without duplicates in Google Sheets.

  1. Select and right-click a second range that will be merged (e.g., C2:C6) and click Copy (or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + C).

 

google sheets merge lists without duplicates 1

 

  1. Right-click on the first empty cell after the first list (e.g., B10) and click Paste (or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + V).

 

google sheets merge lists without duplicates 2

 

  1. Now you have values from both columns in Column B, but there are some duplicates.
    To delete the duplicates, click anywhere in the first list (here, B2:B15), and in the Menu, go to Data > Remove duplicates.

 

google sheets merge lists without duplicates 3

 

  1. In the Remove duplicates window, (1) uncheck Select all and (2) check Column B to compare only the values in Column B. Then (3) click Remove duplicates.

 

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  1. This brings up the information pop-up below, with the number of deleted duplicates and the number of remaining unique values.

 

google sheets merge lists without duplicates 5

 

Finally, the lists are merged, with all duplicates removed, in Column B.

 

google sheets merge lists without duplicates final