Find Duplicate Rows

So with no one any idea what may be causing this issue…

[Possible race condition?](https://community.appsheet.com/t/possible-race-condition/38288) Questions

I have an App used by a construction co. Basically what this bit does it allow the app user to add the items they have fitted. Each different item is added as its own record. This formula in [Number Remaining] stops the user from saying they’ve fitted 6 items, from a inital total of 10, if they have already fitted say 6. In this case if they’d fitted 6 and put in another 6 then [Number Remaining] would be -2 and trigger a seperate Valid_If formula The issue I have is somehow the user has ad…

I need a way for the App to detect duplicate rows - simply where data in 5 to 6 columns match. Easy to do as a virtual column. But this App is already dog slow. A virtual column which compares 4000 rows against the other 3999 rows isn’t going to help So can anyone suggest a way I can have a Report run at 23:59 each night, calling an action to run on each row, with a formula to check if the 5-6 columns on this row matches any other rows?

1minManager:

So can anyone suggest a way I can have a Report run at 23:59 each night, calling an action to run on each row, with a formula to check if the 5-6 columns on this row matches any other rows?

What exactly do you need a suggestion on? How to write the formula? I imagine it’d just be a bunch of IN()s inside of an AND(). What should happen when a duplicate is detected? Send a message? Delete the record?

Why don’t you just detect duplicates when a record is initially created?

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Hi @Marc_Dillon

I ok with the formula, its more a question of how to do it using Reports, Workflows and Actions

“Why don’t you just detect duplicates when a record is initially created?”
The whole reason I need to do this is because users are creating duplicates. There is a formula in the linked post that should stop this from happening. Yet it isn’t always doing that. I’ve tested it multiple ways and cannnot create a duplicate. My best guess at the moment is the following:

1 = They are on a mobile phone with a poor internet connection
2 = They create a record
3 = They look at a slice of records they have created and don’t see this new record
4 = They create an identical record (sometimes less than 30secs after creating the first one)
5 = The current formula to ban duplicates does not function because it relies on data in a slice or large table and somehow doesn’t ‘see’ the first record

I’ve seen evidence of this happending now 3 time and from 2 seperate users. If I go into any of these records and edit them the App instantly errors saying they are a duplicate can cannot be saved.

Hence the requirement for a double-check on a daily basis

Maybe I’ll have to do it using a sheets formula…

Or put in another rule that says you can’t add another record until 5min or so has elasped

But I’m a bit freaked out by how this can happen

1minManager:

its more a question of how to do it using Reports, Workflows and Actions

I still don’t know what you want to do.

1minManager:

have a Report run at 23:59 each night, calling an action to run on each row, with a formula to check if the 5-6 columns on this row matches any other rows?

Then write something in a column if this row is a duplicate of another

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Thanks @Marc_Dillon . Sorry didn’t see “Change Data” button before

Ca you help me with the formula to detect the duplicated entries ?

My app relies on me entering some data manually in a google spreadsheet that represents the database for the app rather than the users entering the data in forms, so I can’t use a “Valid_if” condition..

Each row have about 50 columns :grin: one of them is the timestamp for the record creation so there is a chance for duplication ..

How to check if any 2 or more records contain the same data in 6 of the columns which indicates duplication?

https://help.appsheet.com/en/articles/3483429-intersect

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