You're going to have to figure out some way to isolate individual customers, whether it's by name, address, phone number, etc. I would recommend importing ALL of the records into Access and then using aggregate queries with a group by and check specific fields and field combinations for duplicate values. Then you can delete accordingly. If you don't have a unique identifier in your Excel sheet, then Access can't just magically pick out the unique customers.

If you have each of your columns properly named you should be able to import your Excel file directly into Access

Unfortunately when I bought this business I inherited the Excel sheet as is. First & Last name in the same field. I know Richard did a lesson to fix this problem (I have to find it again) but there is no unique identifier. I could maybe use the phone number, but these change.

Here ya go: Separate First Name. This won't be easy. There may be a lot of data "scrubbing."  Access Expert 14 (which I see you have) covers a lot of that.

Hi Richard
I have added another field to my spreadsheet. i want to find all the records for a certain customer and enter data in the new field for that customer.
Is there an Excel lesson i could purchase that could help me?

I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to do. Sounds like you just inserted a column. What exactly do you want to put in this new column? I'm lost. Sorry!

Because I dont have a unique identifier I thought I would create a new column that I want to store license numbers in. I was hoping that I could search for all the records for one customer and fill the new field with their license number. Just wondering if there is a lesson that covers something like this. I know I can use find and replace but that would take forever.

You could probably use an update query, but you're still going to have to program the query criteria for whatever means you're using to determine what constitutes a unique customer. If you're going to go through all that you might as well assign a CustomerID. LOL

Hi Richard
I have watched D21 lesson 1 several times and I think this is the answer to my problem.
But...there are many fields in the flat file I have imported that need to be normalised. Do i just keep breaking it down and repeating the process?
By the way have a fantastic Christmas and New Year and thank you for what you do.

Pretty much, yes. Merry Christmas to you too. :)