Greetings, thank you for looking at this post. I have a worksheet that will
be used to track a list of user ids. Basically the steps are this...

1. Add the user information (including hand typed user id that must be
unique) to a .csv file and save.
2. Open web based utility to import user information to online tool.

Pretty simple steps. The issue is that there is no way around the .csv
import and that duplicate userids will cause the upload to be rejected.

Generally I would do this in access and use indexing...but alas the people
who will be entering in the data are not access savvy...in fact they are not
really excel savvy either. I would like to have a way of letting them add
user ids to an excel spreadsheet that will validate the userid field and
reject duplicates. The next step will be to take the new entries and turn it
into a .csv file...I will take care of that later.

So my question is...is there anyway for me to create something within excel
that will allow a real time validation of data preventing duplicates?
Something that will not require VBA or maintenance for the users. I did see
options for real time validation of data to ensure the data is on a
list...but nothing the other way around.

Any guidance would be GREATLY appreciated. My plan for the .csv creation is
a simple export macro...at least for the time being. Any ideas on this front
are welcome also. Thanks again =)

Here's a way you can use Data Validation to prevent duplicate entries.

Select Column A (or whichever column will contain the user IDs)
From the Data Menu, choose "Validation..."
Change the Allow Field to "Custom"
Enter the formula: =COUNTIF(A:A,A1)<2
Set up any Input Messages or Error Alerts you want
Click OK

Note that this will only apply to data that is manually typed in by the
user. It will not apply to formula results or pasted data. Also, it will
not apply to any pre-existing data.

HTH,
Elkar



"H0MELY" wrote:

Greetings, thank you for looking at this post. I have a worksheet that will
be used to track a list of user ids. Basically the steps are this...

1. Add the user information (including hand typed user id that must be
unique) to a .csv file and save.
2. Open web based utility to import user information to online tool.

Pretty simple steps. The issue is that there is no way around the .csv
import and that duplicate userids will cause the upload to be rejected.

Generally I would do this in access and use indexing...but alas the people
who will be entering in the data are not access savvy...in fact they are not
really excel savvy either. I would like to have a way of letting them add
user ids to an excel spreadsheet that will validate the userid field and
reject duplicates. The next step will be to take the new entries and turn it
into a .csv file...I will take care of that later.

So my question is...is there anyway for me to create something within excel
that will allow a real time validation of data preventing duplicates?
Something that will not require VBA or maintenance for the users. I did see
options for real time validation of data to ensure the data is on a
list...but nothing the other way around.

Any guidance would be GREATLY appreciated. My plan for the .csv creation is
a simple export macro...at least for the time being. Any ideas on this front
are welcome also. Thanks again =)

That works PERFECTLY...THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

"Elkar" wrote:

Here's a way you can use Data Validation to prevent duplicate entries.

Select Column A (or whichever column will contain the user IDs)
From the Data Menu, choose "Validation..."
Change the Allow Field to "Custom"
Enter the formula: =COUNTIF(A:A,A1)<2
Set up any Input Messages or Error Alerts you want
Click OK

Note that this will only apply to data that is manually typed in by the
user. It will not apply to formula results or pasted data. Also, it will
not apply to any pre-existing data.

HTH,
Elkar



"H0MELY" wrote:

Greetings, thank you for looking at this post. I have a worksheet that will
be used to track a list of user ids. Basically the steps are this...

1. Add the user information (including hand typed user id that must be
unique) to a .csv file and save.
2. Open web based utility to import user information to online tool.

Pretty simple steps. The issue is that there is no way around the .csv
import and that duplicate userids will cause the upload to be rejected.

Generally I would do this in access and use indexing...but alas the people
who will be entering in the data are not access savvy...in fact they are not
really excel savvy either. I would like to have a way of letting them add
user ids to an excel spreadsheet that will validate the userid field and
reject duplicates. The next step will be to take the new entries and turn it
into a .csv file...I will take care of that later.

So my question is...is there anyway for me to create something within excel
that will allow a real time validation of data preventing duplicates?
Something that will not require VBA or maintenance for the users. I did see
options for real time validation of data to ensure the data is on a
list...but nothing the other way around.

Any guidance would be GREATLY appreciated. My plan for the .csv creation is
a simple export macro...at least for the time being. Any ideas on this front
are welcome also. Thanks again =)