CRM Data Imports: Remove Duplicates

Before importing data into your Act! or Microsoft Dynamics CRM system, you should always make sure the data in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet you are importing does not contain duplicate records.

For example, if you look at the sample import file below, you will notice that Lance Parker is listed twice.  If your spreadsheet has a lot of duplicate rows, then you will benefit from a simple Microsoft Excel feature

1.     Select a cell within the data set from which you want to remove duplicates.  In the example above, click anywhere in a cell which contains data.

2.     Click on the DATA ribbon tab at the top.

3.     Click on Remove Duplicates from the Data Tools ribbon group.

4.     Ensure that the “My data has headers” checkbox is checked.

5.     Select only the columns which you want to check for duplicates.  For example, if I only wanted to remove the duplicate records for the First Name and Last Name columns, then I would only check those two boxes.  This means that the data in the other three columns doesn’t have to match and Excel will still detect the duplicate record based only on the data in the columns selected.

6.     Click OK when you’re ready and it will remove any rows that are duplicates.

Now you know how to remove duplicates using MS Excel.  If you need assistance importing data into Microsoft Dynamics CRM or Act!, send an email to info@toplineresults.com.