Skip to content
Free Excel Tutorials
  • Home
  • Excel For Beginners
  • Excel Intermediate
  • Advanced Excel For Experts

Data Analysis

  • How to Create Gantt Chart in Excel
  • How to calculate correlation coefficient Correlation in Excel
  • How to Create Column Chart in Excel
  • Number and Text Filters Examples in Excel
  • Get column index in Excel Table

References

  • MATCH function: Description, Usage, Syntax, Examples and Explanation
  • How to get address of first cell in range in Excel
  • Offset in Excel
  • Excel Advanced Lookup using Index and Match Functions
  • How to create dynamic named range with OFFSET in Excel

Data Validations

  • Excel Data validation specific characters only
  • Excel Data validation date in next 30 days
  • Data validation must not exist in list
  • Excel Data validation no punctuation
  • Excel Data validation require unique number

Excel Data validation require unique number

by

Set criteria to accept only unique number, ie no duplicate.

To allow only unique numbers in a given range, you can use data validation with a custom formula based on the AND, ISNUMBER, and COUNTIF functions.

Formula

=AND(ISNUMBER(A1),COUNTIF(range,A1)<2)

Cell references in data validation formulas are relative to the upper left cell in the range selected when the validation rule is defined, in this case B5.

Explanation

In the example shown, the data validation applied to B5:B9 is:

=AND(ISNUMBER(B5),COUNTIF(ids,B5)<2)

where ids is the named range B5:B9.

How this formula works

Data validation rules are triggered when a user adds or changes a cell value.

The AND function takes multiple arguments (logical expressions) and returns TRUE only when all arguments return TRUE. In this case, we need two conditions:

Logical 1 tests if the input is a number using the ISNUMBER function:

ISNUMBER(B5)

The ISNUMBER function returns TRUE when a value is numeric and FALSE if not.

Logical 2 tests checks that the input doesn’t already exist in the named range “ids”:

COUNTIF(ids,B5)<2

COUNTIF returns a count of the value in B5 inside the named range ids (B5:B9). If the count is less than 2, the logical expression returns TRUE.

If both logical expressions return TRUE, the AND function returns TRUE and validation succeeds:

=AND(TRUE,TRUE) // validation successful

If either logical returns FALSE, data validation fails.

Note: Be aware that numeric input includes dates and times, whole numbers, and decimal values.

Post navigation

Previous Post:

DECIMAL function: Description, Usage, Syntax, Examples and Explanation

Next Post:

AVERAGE function: Description, Usage, Syntax, Examples and Explanation

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Learn Basic Excel

Ribbon
Workbook
Worksheets
Format Cells
Find & Select
Sort & Filter
Templates
Print
Share
Protect
Keyboard Shortcuts

Categories

  • Charts
  • Data Analysis
  • Data Validation
  • Excel Functions
    • Cube Functions
    • Database Functions
    • Date and Time Functions
    • Engineering Functions
    • Financial Functions
    • Information Functions
    • Logical Functions
    • Lookup and Reference Functions
    • Math and Trig Functions
    • Statistical Functions
    • Text Functions
    • Web Functions
  • Excel VBA
  • Excel Video Tutorials
  • Formatting
  • Grouping
  • Others

Logical Functions

  • SWITCH function: Description, Usage, Syntax, Examples and Explanation
  • Nested IF function example in Excel
  • Complete List of Excel Logical Functions, References and Examples
  • AND function: Description, Usage, Syntax, Examples and Explanation
  • Invoice status with nested if in Excel

Date Time

  • How to calculate quarter from date in Excel
  • How to calculate workdays per month in Excel
  • WEEKNUM function: Description, Usage, Syntax, Examples and Explanation
  • TIME function: Description, Usage, Syntax, Examples and Explanation
  • How to calculate Day of the Year in Excel

Grouping

  • Categorize text with keywords in Excel
  • If cell contains one of many things in Excel
  • How to randomly assign data to groups in Excel
  • How to randomly assign people to groups in Excel
  • Calculate conditional mode with criteria in Excel

General

  • How to Create Calendar in Excel
  • List worksheet index numbers in Excel
  • Check if range contains a value not in another range in Excel
  • How to count total number of cells in a rectangular range in Excel
  • With vs Without Array Formula in Excel
© 2026 xlsoffice . All Right Reserved. | Teal Smiles | Abbreviations And Their Meaning