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Remove duplicates in look up field

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Mathias_Elmose
7 - App Architect
7 - App Architect

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?

112 Replies 112
Alexandra_Scott
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

+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
7 - App Architect
7 - App Architect

+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.

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.

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?

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:

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

Here’s info on the Unique Arrays function

______________________________________
Hannah - On2Air.com - Automated Backups for Airtable
AM858
6 - Interface Innovator
6 - Interface Innovator

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

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
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

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.

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
6 - Interface Innovator
6 - Interface Innovator

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…