how to highlight duplicates in excel

To highlight duplicates in Excel, follow these steps:

1. Select the range of cells where you want to find duplicates.
2. Go to the "Home" tab on the ribbon.
3. Click on "Conditional Formatting" in the Styles group.
4. Choose "Highlight Cells Rules" then select "Duplicate Values."
5. In the dialog box, select the formatting style (e.g., red fill with dark red text) you want to apply to duplicates.
6. Click OK.

This will highlight all cells that have duplicate values within the selected range. For more custom approaches, you can use formulas like =COUNTIF(range, criteria)>1 in Conditional Formatting to highlight duplicates based on specific conditions or across multiple columns. This method works for single or multiple columns and is available in all Excel versions supporting conditional formatting.