Extract Unique Records with Standard Filter in OpenOffice Calc

Extract distinct complete records into a spare area with Standard Filter. Keep the original list so you can explain exactly which repeated rows were excluded. This is an extraction, not an instruction to delete customer or transaction records.

Scope and original fixture

These instructions follow the Apache OpenOffice 4.1 Calc Guide. They do not assume LibreOffice’s newer menus. Start a blank spreadsheet and enter this complete table in Sheet1.A1:C8. Integers are numbers, not text; there are no blank cells or trailing spaces.

Row	A: Team	B: Item	C: Units
2	East	Kit	4
3	West	Pad	2
4	East	Kit	4
5	East	Kit	6
6	West	Pad	2
7	North	Kit	3
8	East	Pad	4

Keep E1:G20 empty for output. Save an ODS copy as your clean starting point. Here a duplicate means all three selected fields match. East/Kit/4 repeats; East/Kit/6 is a different record. Selecting only Team would answer a different question and discard distinctions you need.

Copy the unique records

1. Select A1:C8, including the three headings. Choose Data > Filter > Standard Filter.
2. In the first condition choose Units, condition >=, value 0. Leave the other conditions unused. This passes every row in this particular nonnegative fixture; it is not an all-purpose rule for lists containing negatives or blanks.
3. Expand More Options (shortened to More in some older documentation). Select Range contains column labels, Copy results to, and No duplication. Leave Regular expression off. Set the destination to $Sheet1.$E$1, using the range picker if necessary.
4. Check that the selected source is still A1:C8 and the destination does not overlap it, then click OK.
5. Compare the output by its complete row values, not just the count. It should contain these five data records once each, plus headings:

Team	Item	Units
East	Kit	4
West	Pad	2
East	Kit	6
North	Kit	3
East	Pad	4

The original has seven data rows totaling 25 units. The unique output has five totaling 19. The difference is one repeated 4-unit record and one repeated 2-unit record. Do not interpret 19 as a legitimate sales total unless you have established that those repeated records really are accidental duplicates.

Change the input and rebuild safely

Change C4 from 4 to 5. The old extraction is a snapshot; do not assume it will update automatically. Clear only the previous output E1:G20, select A1:C8 again, and repeat the same filter. There are now six distinct records totaling 24. The source total is 26, with only West/Pad/2 repeated.

Restore C4 to 4. Append East, Kit, 4 in A9:C9 and South, Pad, 1 in A10:C10. Re-run from A1:C10, after clearing the old output. Expect six distinct records totaling 20, versus nine source records totaling 30. A filter whose range stops at row 8 cannot include new records. The blank output space is deliberately larger than either result so old trailing records cannot masquerade as new matches.

A second definition of unique

On a separate clean sheet, copy only the Team and Item columns from the original seven-row fixture. Select A1:B8 on that sheet. Use Standard Filter with Item = Kit in the first condition and OR Item = Pad in the second; these two conditions cover every row of this fixture. Set a separate destination such as E1, outside the two-column source. With No duplication and a separate destination, the four distinct pairs are East/Kit, West/Pad, North/Kit, East/Pad. Units are intentionally absent. Never attach an arbitrary Units value back to those pairs and present it as the original record.

Recovery and troubleshooting

If source rows appear hidden, select the applicable complete source range and choose Data > Filter > Remove Filter. For the original fixture, check all seven source records in A1:C8. After the growth test, check all nine current source records in A1:C10, including the two appended records. Removing the filter should reveal the current records, not discard the additions. If output is missing or still duplicated, verify Copy results to and No duplication together: the guide specifically documents unique-row output when results are sent elsewhere. Check the complete selection, numeric types, and invisible spaces before changing the definition of a duplicate.

Save the result in ODS, close and reopen, and compare the source and output again. To restart after reopening, use the saved clean copy or re-enter the fixture; an old Undo history is not a recovery plan. For flagging possible duplicate records while preserving their context, see review duplicate rows.

Documentation and verification limits

The official Standard Filters guide documents this menu and the copy/no-duplication options; the 4.1 Calc Guide shows the heading and destination controls. No native application session or screenshot of this fixture was captured for this article. The counts and sums are independently calculated expectations to check in your installed build. This guide does not establish case-folding, whitespace normalization, or equality of differently formatted dates in your data.