Duplicate Query

[Guest]

I have created a database in our office to handle contact information. I
need to eliminate the duplicate records. The problem is that the data has
been input by a lot of different people through the years and the duplicates
my not exactly match. For example, in the column titled "first name" some
have input two names representing a husband and wife. THe duplicate may only
have the husbands name. I can search by last name but if that name is smith
or jones I could have a lot of names to look through. I am working on
multiple combinations of columns to identify the duplicates but basically my
question is this. Can Access identify duplicates in a field if the names are
similar but not identical? I may be asking too much of the program. (I am
going to meet with the staff to ensure uniformity form this point on.)

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Just a thought.

If you have the address you could could run a totals query on the
UK - postcode plus house number
USA - zipcode plus house number

Use a concencated field and use this for the totals query.

To extract the zip / post code -
search this form for extract (in queries section of this forum)
have a look at the answers gien by Offer Cohen, John Spencer and John Vinson
on 4/9/07.

This all assumes you have the address of the people you're looking for - and
they haven't moved since the data was loaded.

Good luck