Remove Duplicates Across Columns in Excel | Power Query Challenge 94
Remove Duplicates Across Columns in Excel | Power Query Challenge 94
In this Power Query challenge, we tackle a tricky problem: removing duplicate rows based on multiple columns, while ignoring the order of values within each row.
Example: a row with A, A, B and another with B, A, A should be considered duplicates — even though the order is different. In this step-by-step tutorial, I’ll show you how to solve it using Record.ToList, List.Skip, and List.Sort, followed by a simple workaround to remove duplicates cleanly.
You’ll learn:
How to convert a row into a list with Record.ToList
How to ignore unwanted columns like IDs with List.Skip
How to normalize values with List.Sort so order doesn’t matter
Why Power Query won’t remove duplicates directly on list columns
The easy workaround to deduplicate rows reliably
This technique is incredibly useful for survey results, customer data, product codes, or any dataset where order shouldn’t matter.
👉 By the end, you’ll know how to:
Identify duplicates across multiple columns
Clean them up step by step
Build a repeatable solution you can use on any dataset
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Links:
Challenge Author: Omid Motamedisedeh
LinkedIn: / omidmot
Challenge Post: / omidmot_exclude-powerabrquery-excel-activi...
Solution: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...