I need to know if there is a way to automatically filter for unique records.

I am creating a workbook where one sheet has a list of projects worked
(column one) on and a task associated with the project (column two) and the
number of hours worked (column 3) on that project/task combination. The
next row may or may not have the same project name with a different task

On the second sheet, I used the sumif (if the text in the column on sheet 1
matches the text in the cell on sheet 2) function to add all hours
associated with the project.

It works great except I have to manually place the project name on each row
of the second sheet. (right now I use a data validation list to enter the
project name so I don't have to type or copy and paste it each time)

I would like to find a way to have the project name automatically entered on
the second sheet.

I first tried just using the = sign and then pointing at each cell, but it
does not avoid duplicates.

Then I found the filter for unique records which works great except I would
have to manually apply the filter each time... which I don't want to do.

Any suggestions?

--
Lila