I am obsessed with unique values, I guess it has something to do the quality data of I get to work with. So much so that it is the first excel post I have written on this blog, way back in 2006. Today I want to share with you all one more way (Not again man, you did that 2 weeks back) to extract unique values. I promise that I wont propose another unique idea to extract unique values (remember, I can still write about ways to remove duplicates… 😛 )
Ok, enough introduction already. Here goes another unique items extraction technique, this time using Pivot Tables.
1. Just select the data from which you need to extract unique items
2. Create a Pivot Table (in Excel 2003 menu > data > pivot table and in Excel 2007 Insert > Pivot Table)
3. Drag and drop a column in the pivot table and you will instantly see all unique values for that column.
4. Copy the values and use paste special to extract the values.
Why I love this technique:
It is scalable and works really well with large data. If your data changes just refresh the pivot. Also, when you need to extract unique values for multiple columns this technique is really good, for eg. unique customer names, product names, cities from monthly sales report. Despite the manual step of creating the pivot tables, this method is highly reliable.
Also checkout other ways to filter unique items or eliminate duplicates:
> Getting unique items using data filter and formulas
> Use advanced data filters to find unique items
> Eliminate Duplicate Entries in a List using Formulas
> Get Unique items using Excel 2007 built in features
What is your favorite way of extracting unique items ? Or you are happy with with few duplicates here and and there ?
11 Responses to “Use Alt+Enter to get multiple lines in a cell [spreadcheats]”
@Chandoo:
One more useful trick.......
In a column you have no. of data in rows and need to copy in the next row from the previous row, no need to go for the previous rows but entering Alt + down arrow, you will get the list of data, (in asending order), entered in the previous rows...
This is another great tip. I use this all the time to make sense of some *very* long formulas. As soon as the formula is debugged I remove the break.
Great tip Chandoo!
I use this feature often and it has even gotten the, "how did you do that" response.
Thanks!
@Ketan: Alt+down arrow is an awesome tip. I never knew it and now I am using it everyday.
@Jorge, Tony: Agree... 🙂
[...] Day 1: Insert Line Breaks in a Cell [...]
how can we merge a two sheet.
excellent idea. Chandoo you are genious
Hi chandoo,
I have used ctrl+enter to break the cell. But I did not get the result.
Please tell me how can i break the cell in multiple lines.
Hi, Ranveer,
Its not Ctrl+enter to break the cell, use Alt+Enter to make it happen.
hi Chandoo....
how we can use Alt+Enter in multiple rows at the same time please reply hurry i have lot of work and have no time and i m stuck in this. 🙁
Alt+J worked once 🙁
So I found another more reliable way:
=SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(13),"")
Where A2 is the cell that contains the line breaks which the code for it is CHAR(13). It will replace it with whatever inside the ""