Bizarre behaviour from 'Remove Duplicates'

[Anonymous]

What is going on here??

I've got a column with 63 rows, of which 19 are distinct values.

I right-click and select 'Remove Duplicates' (or use the button in the ribbon, it has the same effect).

I get a list of 4 values back! It has clearly removed non-distinct values from this list.

Why is this happening? And how do I get 'Remove Duplicates' to work as expected?

[Mariusz · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous 

Can you not use Group By Instead?

I wonder if you will get the same result.

Regards,
Mariusz

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[Mariusz]

Hi @Anonymous 

You need to select both Columns

Regards,
Mariusz

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[Anonymous]

@Mariusz  Same thing still happens. Same result no matter how many columns I select.

[Mariusz · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous 

Can you not use Group By Instead?

I wonder if you will get the same result.

Regards,
Mariusz

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[Anonymous]

@Mariusz  'Group By' does give me the expected list of results (21 unique, not 19 as previously indicated).

However I also lose the rest of the table, so it's not really a solution. Interesting that this works but 'Remove Duplicates' doesn't.

[Mariusz · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous 

You can extend "Group By" by switching to advanced, like below.

21 unique values is probobly the right result as query editor previews serten amount of rows rather then loads whole table, so 19 unique values might have been incomplete.

[Anonymous]

@Mariusz  That does give me the output I'd expect. I will mark it as a solution however I don't see it as the "right" solution. 'Remove Duplicates' clearly isn't behaving as expected and that's still the issue, even when using this workaround.

Thanks for your help!

[Mariusz]

@Anonymous 

Please ingore this comment

Thanks