How to Find Fuzzy Matches in Google Sheets

Build a Fuzzy Duplicate Finder in Google Sheets with LEFT, MATCH, ROW & Conditional Formatting This episode shows how to find and highlight near-duplicate records in Google Sheets when exact duplicate tools fail due to differences like spelling, capitalization, abbreviations, or suffixes (e.g., “San Francisco” vs “SF”). It demonstrates building a simple fuzzy-match helper column using LEFT to extract the first characters of a name (or the first five characters of a street address), then using MATCH to locate the extracted value within a column, subtracting ROW to identify matches on other rows, and applying conditional formatting to color cells or entire rows when the result is less than zero. The process is used to decide which rows to keep, copy information from, or delete for data cleaning. 00:00 Why Duplicates Fail 00:20 Build a Fuzzy Key 00:36 Match and Flag Results 01:08 Highlight with Formatting 01:53 Choose and Delete Records 02:31 Extend to Addresses 03:10 Wrap Up and Subscribe