find and delete duplicate records

  • Thread starter Thread starter mcnewsxp
  • Start date Start date
M

mcnewsxp

what is the best way to find and delete duplicate records.
i know how to use the wizard to find.
how do i delete the dupes?

please excuse multi-post.

thanks,
mcnews
 
Have a look at my answer to GinoC's posting in the queries newsgroup, Jan
20, 18:11, titled Duplicate Queries. You may find it helpful.

HTH,
Nikos
 
thanks for the response, but i could not find the post you referred to.
my outlook reader doesn't list any for jan 20 and could not find on google.
could you repost here.
thanks much,
mcnews
 
OK... here's my reply:

If your table does not have an autonumber PK that is linked to another
table, you can do the following trick:
Make a copy of your table, delete all the records and make all fields part
of the primary key. Then make an append query to send all the records of the
original to the copy; the duplicates will be rejected. Either delete all
records from the original table and copy back the (cleaned-up) records from
the copy, or delete the original and rename the copy to the original's name.
Caution: if your original table has a relationship with one or more others,
make sure you remove it before you do either, and restore it when you're
done.
In any case, always make a backup copy before you try anything!

HTH,
Nikos
 
thanks for your reply.
i found similar suggestions after searching google.
nothing very elegant, though.
of course these records aren't exact dupes.
there may be data in the original or the dupe that may need to be kept.

oh, back to the eyeballs...
 
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