Highlight cells with duplicate values

This tutorial shows how to highlight cells that contain duplicate values in a selected range using Excel or VBA

METHOD 1. Highlight cells with duplicate values

EXCEL

Select data > Home tab > Style group > Click on Conditional Formatting > Highlight Cells Rules > Select Duplicate Values > Select Duplicate > Select color > Click OK

1. Select the range in which you want to highlight duplicate values.
Note: in this example we are selecting range B3:C9.

Select range in which you want to highlight duplicate values

2. Select the Home tab.

3. Click on Conditional Formatting in the Style group.
4. Select Highlight Cells Rules.
5. Select Duplicate Values.

Select Conditional Formatting, click Highlight Cells Rules and select Duplicate Values

6. Ensure that Duplicate is selected in the first drop down menu.
7. Select the cell format that you want to apply by selecting the options from the second drop down menu.
Note: in this example we are using a Custom Format option.

8. Select the Fill tab.
9. Select a color.
10. Click OK.
Note: in this example we are only applying the fill condition to the cells that contain duplicate values in the selected range.

Select the Fill tab, select color and click OK

11. Click OK.

Click OK in the Duplicate Values dialog box

Highlighted cells that contain duplicate values in the selected range.

METHOD 1. Highlight cells with duplicate values using VBA

VBA

Sub Highlight_Duplicate_Values()

'declare variables
Dim ws As Worksheet
Dim ColorRng As Range
Dim ColorCell As Range

Set ws = Worksheets("Analysis")
Set ColorRng = ws.Range("B3:C9")

'highlight cells that contain duplicate values in the selected range
For Each ColorCell In ColorRng

If WorksheetFunction.CountIf(ColorRng, ColorCell.Value) > 1 Then
ColorCell.Interior.Color = RGB(220, 230, 241)
Else
ColorCell.Interior.ColorIndex = xlNone
End If

End Sub

ADJUSTABLE PARAMETERS
Worksheet Selection: Select the worksheet which contains the data in which you want to highlight duplicate values by changing the Analysis worksheet name in the VBA code. You can also change the name of this object variable, by changing the name 'ws' in the VBA code.
Highlight Range: Select the range in which to highlight duplicate value by changing the range ("B3:C9") in the VBA code.
Highlight Color: Select the color to highlight the duplicate value in the selected range by changing the RGB code (220, 230, 241) in the VBA code.

Explanation about how to highlight duplicate values

EXPLANATION

This tutorial shows how to highlight cells that contain duplicate values in a selected range using Excel or VBA.

This tutorial provides one Excel method that can be applied to highlight cells that contain duplicate values in a selected range by using the Conditional Formatting. This is accomplished in 11 steps.

This tutorial provides one VBA method that can be applied to highlight cells that contain duplicate values. In this example the VBA code will loop through each cell in the nominated range and will highlight each cell that contains a duplicate value.

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