OpenOffice: get distinct values from column

Question

How do I get a list of all distinct values from a column of values?

Basically, this question:

How do I get the distinct/unique values in a column in Excel?

but I need the answer for Open Office Calc instead of MS Excel.

I'm using Open Office 3.2

Answer 1

You can do this with the OpenOffice advanced filter (on the main menu..Data/Filter/Advanced Filter)

1. Ensure your column of data has a title at the top, e.g. title and that the data is contiguous (no empty cells) or select the whole column including empty cells by clicking on the column header.,
2. Create a filter criterion that would include all the data in your column, e.g. in cell D1 enter title; in cell D2 enter >" ". Use any unused cells in your spreadsheet - these are just temporary inputs which are needed to apply the filter.
3. Select the header of your data column to highlight the whole column, then choose Data/Filter/Advanced Filter.
4. In the box that opens, for 'Read Filter Criteria from' choose both cells of your filter (e.g. D1 and D2)
5. Click the 'More' button and check the 'No duplication' box. Optionally you can choose to copy the filtered data somewhere else. Click OK and distinct cells will be displayed.

Not very intuitive, but once you get the hang of it, it goes pretty fast.

Answer 2

I found a more simple way to do that:

1. Select the whole column

2. Data > Filter > Standard Filter

3. Change 'Field Name' to -none- , click on 'More options' and check on 'No duplication' box

That's it. You can copy and paste the filtered fields if you want contiguously numbered cells.

Answer 3

You could try the procedure described in http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/How_Tos/Removing_Duplicate_Rows to completely remove non-unique rows according to the column in question, or select rows based on the new column.