Remove Duplicate Rows From A Power Apps Collection



Remove the duplicate rows from any Power Apps collection with this 1 line of code.

//Duplicate removal code
ClearCollect(colSolution, ForAll(Distinct(yourCollectionName, ThisRecord), Result));



Here’s how it works:

The Distinct function returns a one-column table of unique values for a field. But when we use ThisRecord instead of a column name it results in a one-column table of unique records. Then we loop over the one column table using ForAll to extract the rows into a multliple column table.

For more help with collections check out my Power Apps Collections Cookbook. There are over 50 examples and code you can copy + paste into your own apps.



Full Example: Remove Duplicate Rows


Input Collection

Start with this Power Apps collection named colVehicles.

YearMakeModel
2020FordF150
2018ChevySilverado
2020FordF150
2020FordF150
2017NissanFrontier
2016GMYukon
2016GMYukon



Output Collection

Our goal is to remove the duplicate rows from the Power Apps collection colVehicles and achieve this result.

YearMakeModel
2020FordF150
2018ChevySilverado
2017NissanFrontier
2016GMYukon


Solution Code

Use this code to remove the duplicate rows from colVehicles.

//Create a collection
ClearCollect(colVehicles,
    {Year: 2020, Make: "Ford", Model: "F150"},
    {Year: 2018, Make: "Chevy", Model: "Silverado" },
    {Year: 2020, Make: "Ford", Model: "F150" },
    {Year: 2020, Make: "Ford", Model: "F150"},
    {Year: 2017, Make: "Nissan", Model: "Frontier"},
    {Year: 2016, Make: "GM", Model: "Yukon"},
    {Year: 2016, Make: "GM", Model: "Yukon"}
);

//Duplicate removal code
ClearCollect(mySolution, ForAll(Distinct(colVehicles, ThisRecord), Result));





Questions?

If you have any questions about Remove Duplicate Rows From A Power Apps Collection please leave a message in the comments section below. You can post using your email address and are not required to create an account to join the discussion.

Matthew Devaney

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

27 Comments
Oldest
Newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
George Ellis
George Ellis
1 year ago

Interesting Matt—thanks. On a related note, you make me think of the times I want to step through a collection and modify one value in each row. Because you cannot modify what you’re using for the index, I make a whole new copy of the entire collection. Looking at this, I wonder if I could just use something like

ForAll(Distinct(fullCltn, fullCltnGUID), and then step through the GUIDs. If something like this would work, it would sure save a lot of memory!

MALLET Philippe
MALLET Philippe
1 year ago

Thank you for this élégant and powerfull syntax Matthew 🙂

Marcel Lehmann
1 year ago

Interesting solution, good job.
I had not yet needed, but now I have to think about it fortunately not.

Important: With a collection as a basis, this works great, but if we had SharePoint as a source, we would run into the delegation problem with the Distinct function. (if more entries)

sonam
sonam
1 year ago

Hi, Matthew. I usually follow your solution. It’s really helpful. Recently, I followed this solution to remove duplicates from the collection, but I am not satisfied.

Here is my collection, i.e., CollCountry. I collect data from an Excel data table, which has some duplicate values.

Then I applied the following formula to a button to create another collection by removing the duplicates.

And here is the result:

OnSelect = ClearCollect(mySolution, ForAll(Distinct(CollCountry, ThisRecord), Result))
Result of remove duplicates.png
Louis
Louis
10 months ago

Am I correct in assuming then that if a collection has more than 5 columns this will not work?

I am getting “Invalid argument type. Name isn’t valid. ‘Result’ isn’t recognized” when using this solution…code as follows:

ClearCollect(
  col_Collection1,
  ForAll(
    Distinct(col_Collection2,
    ThisRecord),
    Result))

Louis
Louis
10 months ago

looks like ‘Result’ is not valid anymore….using ‘Value’ seems to work instead…I’ll test some more!

Mica
Mica
2 months ago
Reply to  Louis

It works with Value instead of Result!!!
Thank you very mutch for your help. I was almost crasy trying to do this

Craig Stewart
Craig Stewart
1 year ago

So today I was working on gallery selections filtering another gallery and needed to get rid of duplicates. I fiddled a bit, tried a few things. Then I thought “You know who will know how to this? Matthew Devaney” I was so close in getting to what I wanted- but this guide got me through the final piece. Thanks Matthew 🙂

Last edited 1 year ago by Craig Stewart
Daniel Kerridge
Daniel Kerridge
10 months ago

Hi Matt,

I had to change “Result” to “Value” to get this code to work for me.

Working Code:

//Create a collection
ClearCollect(colVehicles,
  {Year: 2020, Make: “Ford”, Model: “F150”},
  {Year: 2018, Make: “Chevy”, Model: “Silverado” },
  {Year: 2020, Make: “Ford”, Model: “F150” },
  {Year: 2020, Make: “Ford”, Model: “F150”},
  {Year: 2017, Make: “Nissan”, Model: “Frontier”},
  {Year: 2016, Make: “GM”, Model: “Yukon”},
  {Year: 2016, Make: “GM”, Model: “Yukon”}
);

//Duplicate removal code
ClearCollect(mySolution, ForAll(Distinct(colVehicles, ThisRecord), Value));

Cheers!

Tim
Tim
10 months ago

Hello Matthew,
Hmm weird when i do this part or at least i think i do
I only get no results instead of all the names i want to see except duplicated ones
What do i wrong?

ForAll( Distinct( ColAllData; CUSTOMER );
LookUp( ColAllData; Trim(TextInput1_8.Text) in “field_7” )
)

For example i have 4 Bruno Guide and a few Bruno with other last names
But i get nothing
?

New Bitmap image.bmp
Kirk
Kirk
8 months ago

Any idea why I’m getting these errors (screenshot shows my formula and errors) when I use your syntax exactly?…
“The function ‘ForAll’ has some invalid arguments.”
“Name isn’t valid. ‘Result’ isn’t recognized.”
“The function ‘ClearCollect’ has some invalid arguments.”
“Invalid argument type.”

Screenshot 2023-07-20 130850.png
Laiz
Laiz
5 months ago

Hi Matthew, how are you. I have a doubt.

I created an application with power apps. On one of the screens of this app I have a Scan button. When I click this button the camera opens and I scan the barcode. This barcode migrates to a list I created in Lists.

I wouldn’t want the same barcode to be scanned twice. I would like a message to appear saying that the barcode already exists when a barcode is scanned twice.

I’m trying but I can’t know the code because I’m not in the IT field and I’m having a lot of difficulty understanding the formulas. Can you help me, please?

in my Lists in sharepoint I select exclusive values in the collumn of my interest. But in my app when I scan a duplicate number a message error appears Network error when using the Pach function. The requested operation is invalid.

How can I change this message for something friendly?

Thank you

Laiz
Laiz
5 months ago

i try to put the this code but is not working 🙁

Patch(
  CheckFlow;
  Defaults(CheckFlow);
  {‘Digitalizacao do Tubo 1 MO’: BarcodeScanner1_2.Value};
  {‘Codigo Grade’: BarcodeScanner1_1.Value};
  {Data: Now()}
);;
If(
  !IsEmpty(Errors(CheckFlow));;
Notify(
  “Está passagem já foi digitalizada! Por favor, verifique seu processo. Obrigada”;
  NotificationType.Error
);;

Chris Cundy
Chris Cundy
4 months ago

How would this work on this fairly complex Fx?

colAllSubtopics appears to be affected and duplicating data:

// Set your variables first
Set(varItem, ThisItem);
Set(varBuildingPhoto, LookUp(BuildingPhotos, Title = ThisItem.spBuilding).'Link to item');
Set(varBuildingPhotoID, LookUp(BuildingPhotos, Title = ThisItem.spBuilding).ID);


// Data collection and ClearCollect statements go here


// THIS INCLUDES ALL THE TOPIC HEADERS
ClearCollect(colSubtopics1, Distinct(Filter(SubtopicArgEvi_1,Building=varItem.spBuilding),Topic));


// THIS IS THE DISTINCT COLLECTION OF ORDER OF TOPICS
ClearCollect(colSubtopics, ForAll(Sequence(CountRows(colSubtopics1)), Patch(Last(FirstN(colSubtopics1,Value)),{Order:Value})));


ClearCollect(colTempAllSubtopics, AddColumns(Filter(SubtopicArgEvi_1,Building=varItem.spBuilding),"TopicOrder",0,"SubtopicOrder",0));
Clear(colTempAllSubtopicsB);
ForAll(colTempAllSubtopics, Collect(colTempAllSubtopicsB, {
    Top: colTempAllSubtopics[@Topic], 
    SubTop: colTempAllSubtopics[@Subtopic] & " - " & colTempAllSubtopics[@'Subtopic Breakdown'],
    Arg: colTempAllSubtopics[@Argument],
    Evid: colTempAllSubtopics[@Evidence],
    TopOrder: LookUp(colSubtopics,Value=colTempAllSubtopics[@Topic]).Order+2
}));


Clear(colAllSubtopics);


    Collect(colAllSubtopics, ForAll(Sequence(CountRows(Filter(colTempAllSubtopicsB, TopOrder=3)), 3.1, 0.1), Patch(Last(FirstN(Filter(colTempAllSubtopicsB, TopOrder=3), Value)), {SubTopOrder: RoundUp(Value, 2)})));
    Collect(colAllSubtopics, ForAll(Sequence(CountRows(Filter(colTempAllSubtopicsB, TopOrder=4)), 4.1, 0.1), Patch(Last(FirstN(Filter(colTempAllSubtopicsB, TopOrder=4), Value)), {SubTopOrder: RoundUp(Value, 2)})));
    Collect(colAllSubtopics, ForAll(Sequence(CountRows(Filter(colTempAllSubtopicsB, TopOrder=5)), 5.1, 0.1), Patch(Last(FirstN(Filter(colTempAllSubtopicsB, TopOrder=5), Value)), {SubTopOrder: RoundUp(Value, 2)})));
    Collect(colAllSubtopics, ForAll(Sequence(CountRows(Filter(colTempAllSubtopicsB, TopOrder=6)), 6.1, 0.1), Patch(Last(FirstN(Filter(colTempAllSubtopicsB, TopOrder=6), Value)), {SubTopOrder: RoundUp(Value, 2)})));
    Collect(colAllSubtopics, ForAll(Sequence(CountRows(Filter(colTempAllSubtopicsB, TopOrder=7)), 7.1, 0.1), Patch(Last(FirstN(Filter(colTempAllSubtopicsB, TopOrder=7), Value)), {SubTopOrder: RoundUp(Value, 2)})));
    Collect(colAllSubtopics, ForAll(Sequence(CountRows(Filter(colTempAllSubtopicsB, TopOrder=8)), 8.1, 0.1), Patch(Last(FirstN(Filter(colTempAllSubtopicsB, TopOrder=8), Value)), {SubTopOrder: RoundUp(Value, 2)})));
    Collect(colAllSubtopics, ForAll(Sequence(CountRows(Filter(colTempAllSubtopicsB, TopOrder=9)), 9.1, 0.1), Patch(Last(FirstN(Filter(colTempAllSubtopicsB, TopOrder=9), Value)), {SubTopOrder: RoundUp(Value, 2)})));
    Collect(colAllSubtopics, ForAll(Sequence(CountRows(Filter(colTempAllSubtopicsB, TopOrder=10)), 10.1, 0.1), Patch(Last(FirstN(Filter(colTempAllSubtopicsB, TopOrder=10), Value)), {SubTopOrder: RoundUp(Value, 2)})));


UpdateContext({IsLoading: true})
KN. R
KN. R
4 months ago

I have been fiddling with a SP data source over 2000 rows. Trying to filter upon collection but getting duplicate rows in my table where i view the collection. I have edited one of these rows and patched to my OG data source and all works well.

Here is my formula:
ClearCollect(colBulkEditEdit, PlanInformation, Filter(PlanInformation, Operator = Gallery3.Selected.Result));
ClearCollect(colBulkEdit, ForAll(Distinct(colBulkEditEdit, ThisRecord), Value));

Lorenzo
Lorenzo
1 month ago

Hi Matthew, thanks for clear and concise solutions you always provide. Is there any way to remove with PowerApps the duplicate rows from a Sharepoint List?