Help

Finding, sorting, and replacing data
F
ILEMAKER PRO HELP 117
To find all duplicate records:
1. Start a find request.
See Making a find request.
2. Refer to the following table for examples of different ways to search for a range of
information.
Notes
• One field by itself is often not sufficient to determine the uniqueness of a record. If several
fields taken together determine uniqueness, you can create a
calculation field (returning a
text result) that concatenates the values of several fields, and then perform a find for
duplicate records on that field. For example, you could use the formula
First Name &
Last Name & Phone Number
to concatenate three fields. See Defining calculation fields.
• Values are duplicates only if word order is the same.
• When determining uniqueness in text fields, FileMaker Pro looks at the first 100 characters
in each field.
• ! does not find records in which duplicate values are entered in the same field (for example,
ABC Company ABC Company in one field).
• To delete duplicate records, see Deleting records.
• You can also identify duplicate records using a self-join relationship. See Finding duplicate
values using a self-join relationship.
Related topics
Replacing the contents of a field
Defining automatic data entry
Defining calculation fields
Working with related tables and files
Summarizing data in portals
Finding duplicate values using a self-join relationship
This procedure uses a self-join relationship and a calculation field referencing the relationship to
determine when duplicate records exist.
To find Use this operator Examples
All duplicate values ! ! in the Company field finds
all records that contain the
same company name in the
Company field. (ABC
Company and DEF Ltd.
when duplicate values exist
for these companies in
multiple records)
Duplicate values of a specific type !characters !ABC in the Company field
finds all records containing
ABC Company when
duplicate values exist for
this company in multiple
records