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

Data Analysis

  • How to count table rows in Excel
  • Excel Pie Chart
  • Excel Bar Chart
  • How to Sort by Color in Excel
  • How to Create Area Chart in Excel

References

  • Left Lookup in Excel
  • How to use Excel LOOKUP Function
  • Complete List of Excel Lookup and Reference Functions, References and Examples
  • Perform case-sensitive Lookup in Excel
  • How to get last row in numeric data in Excel

Data Validations

  • Excel Data validation require unique number
  • Prevent invalid data entering in specific cells
  • Excel Data validation must contain specific text
  • Excel Data validation must not contain
  • Excel Data validation allow uppercase only

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

  • How to use Excel OR Function
  • IF with boolean logic in Excel
  • How to use IFS function in Excel
  • SWITCH function example in Excel
  • IFNA function: Description, Usage, Syntax, Examples and Explanation

Date Time

  • Basic timesheet formula with breaks in Excel
  • How to calculate working days left in month in Excel
  • Get age from birthday in Excel
  • Get work hours between dates and times in Excel
  • Convert date to text in Excel

Grouping

  • Map inputs to arbitrary values in Excel
  • Group numbers at uneven intervals in Excel
  • Categorize text with keywords in Excel
  • If cell contains one of many things in Excel
  • Map text to numbers in Excel

General

  • Basic text sort formula in Excel
  • How to add sequential row numbers to a set of data in Excel
  • 44 Practical Excel IF function Examples
  • How to get original price from percentage discount in Excel
  • With vs Without Array Formula in Excel
© 2026 xlsoffice . All Right Reserved. | Teal Smiles | Abbreviations And Their Meaning