Remove duplicates in look up field

[Mathias_Elmose]

I’m a big fan of look-ups but I would really like to be able to remove records the occur more than one time. Is there a way to do that?

[Alexandra_Scott]

+1 Joining the chorus — I want to display the lookup values in a gallery view, but if they can’t be deduped, it becomes an impossible UX problem! ARGH. Please add this feature!

[Samir_Ghosh]

+1 But more broadly need UNIQUE function (so can be used with all kinds of lists). And better array/list functionality would really add a lot of power.

[Karlstens]

Would be good to have this feature implemented in the new year. :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

I appreciate the Automation work-around, but it is a still workaround for what effectively would be considered a missing stock feature by many users.

[Real_Live_Enter]

I’m working really hard to understand this workaround, and I’m close, but not quite there.

Does someone have an example of this somewhere that I can look at the guts of to understand better?

[Hannah_Wiginton]

You can find duplicates in your records using the On2Air Amplify app in Airtable.

Here’s a quick video how:

And an article:

How to Check for Duplicates in Your Airtable Fields and Records

Add the app directly to your Airtable base:

Airtable

On2Air: Amplify - Apps - Airtable Marketplace

Create custom record layouts and enhance your data with advanced editors on Airtable with the On2Air: Amplify app.

You can also use our UNIQUE ARRAYS function in the On2Air Actions app

On2Air | Accomplish Anything with Airtable – 8 May 21

On2Air: Actions | On2Air

On2Air: Actions is an Airtable automation and workflow tool to integrate and connect your Airtable data with any other software tools used in your business. Create powerful business processes with almost 20 additional action options beyond the...

Here’s info on the Unique Arrays function

[AM858]

+1 please! it causes a UX issue for my use case

[Natalie_Zdan]

There’s also the Dedupe app, but both require an extra step, as does the automation checkbox workaround that @Adam_Minich shared above.

Airtable, it would be SO useful to have Lookup fields only pull in unique values. The mockup @David_Krizan shared with a “Only display unique linked records” toggle would be amazing.

[LaurieS]

Same issue here — and, as another user mentioned, ARRAYUNIQUE() doesn’t actually work — all the duplicates remain except now they’re no longer clickable. Not having this feature makes it difficult to use Airtable for most purposes beyond what I’d do in Google Sheets.

[Kyle_Jones]

Came here from Google with this exact problem. The solution proposed above was exactly what I was looking for in the UI – please implement!

[F-Law_IT]

It’s shocking to see this hasn’t been addressed after three and half years, and is making me question whether to adopt Airtable, as this is something I’m encountering two days into the product trial and it will clearly frustrate all of my intended uses of the product.

Filtering out duplicates in a displayed lookup field isn’t even available in interface designer, so far as I can tell? Was this tested by any UX designers?

Three year old bugs that require the use of workarounds that eat up premium service allowances makes me feel like the product is in sales & maintenance mode and I’d be better off sticking with what I can accomplish in Sharepoint…