0
0
Power BIbi_tool~5 mins

Removing duplicates in Power BI - Step-by-Step Guide

Choose your learning style9 modes available
Introduction
Sometimes your data has repeated rows that can confuse your reports. Removing duplicates helps you keep only unique records so your analysis is clear and accurate.
When your sales data has multiple entries for the same order and you want to count each order once
When customer lists include repeated contacts and you want to send one email per person
When product inventory data has duplicate rows and you want to see the correct stock count
When importing data from multiple sources that overlap and you want to clean it before analysis
When preparing data for charts that should show unique categories without repetition
Steps
Step 1: Click
- Home tab in Power Query Editor
The Home tab options appear at the top of the Power Query Editor window
Step 2: Select the column or columns
- Data preview grid in Power Query Editor
The selected columns are highlighted to indicate they will be used for duplicate detection
💡 Select all columns that define a unique row to remove exact duplicates
Step 3: Click
- Remove Rows dropdown in the Home tab
A menu with row removal options appears
Step 4: Click
- Remove Duplicates option in the Remove Rows menu
All duplicate rows based on the selected columns are removed from the data preview
Step 5: Click
- Close & Load button in the Home tab
The cleaned data without duplicates loads back into Power BI for reporting
Before vs After
Before
Data preview shows 100 rows including 20 rows where Order ID and Customer ID repeat exactly
After
Data preview shows 80 rows with all exact duplicate rows removed based on selected columns
Settings Reference
Remove Duplicates
📍 Home tab > Remove Rows dropdown in Power Query Editor
Deletes duplicate rows based on selected columns to keep only unique records
Default: No duplicates removed until action is taken
Common Mistakes
Selecting only one column when duplicates depend on multiple columns
This removes duplicates only based on that one column, leaving other duplicates in the data
Select all columns that together define a unique row before removing duplicates
Removing duplicates on the report view instead of in Power Query
Duplicates remain in the data model and can cause incorrect calculations
Always remove duplicates in Power Query Editor before loading data into Power BI
Summary
Removing duplicates cleans your data by keeping only unique rows based on selected columns
Use Power Query Editor's Remove Duplicates feature on the Home tab after selecting columns
Make sure to select all columns that define uniqueness to avoid partial duplicate removal