This Scribe shows you how to visibly mark duplicates in a single column in Google Sheets using conditional formatting. The same logic came be applied to multiple columns i.e. entire datasets
1
Navigate to your spreadsheet
2
Select the second cell in the column where you want to mark duplicates. If your column does not have a column header, select the first cell
3
Highlight the entire column of data: For PCs, press [[ctrl]] + [[shift]] + [[down]]. For Macs, press [[cmd]] + [[shift]] + [[down]]
4
Click "Format" and then "Conditional formatting"
5
Open up the "Format cells if..." field and click "Custom formula is"
6
Click the "Value or formula" field.
7
Type "=countif("
8
Click this field to copy it by pressing [[cmd]] + [[c]]
9
Return to the "Value or formula" field and paste in the range via [[cmd]] + [[v]]
10
Make sure to lock the data set. Do this manually typing in the [[$]] in front of both the letter and number of each cell
The final formula for this example is:
=countif($A$2:$A$8,$A2)>1
11
Click "Done"
12
Now you'll see the duplicates highlighted in your specified color
