# Deduplicate

Deduplicate removes repeated items from a list. It keeps the first item, preserving the original list order.

## When to use it

Use it before emailing, exporting, or processing a list that may contain the same person or record more than once. If you need to keep every repeated item together, use [Group By](/documentation/flowcrafter/nodes/flow/group-by/) instead.

## Settings

![Deduplicate settings selecting the Get Entries list and comparing each item's Email field](/documentation/flowcrafter/screenshots/node-deduplicate-settings.png)

| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| **List to deduplicate** | Chooses a list from any earlier step. Test the source step first if its lists are not shown. |
| **Unique by** | Chooses the field used to compare items, such as `email`, `3`, or `customer.email`. Leave it empty to compare whole items. |

## Output and branches

Deduplicate has one output path and provides these [flow tags](/documentation/flowcrafter/building/using-flow-tags/):

| Flow tag | Value |
|---|---|
| `{{ "Deduplicate".items }}` | The unique items. |
| `{{ "Deduplicate".count }}` | The number of items kept. |

Rename Deduplicate in the tags if you rename the step.

## Good-to-knows

- Matching is exact. Capitalization and spaces are not normalized.
- Items missing the **Unique by** field are all kept because they could not be compared.
- Dropped items are not available in another output or branch.
- With [Get Entries](/documentation/flowcrafter/nodes/actions/get-entries/), set **Return** to **Full entries**. Only [For Each](/documentation/flowcrafter/nodes/flow/for-each/) can read a saved collection directly.

## Example

A list contains three entries with emails `bilbo@example.org`, `gandalf@example.org`, and `bilbo@example.org`. Set **Unique by** to the email field (`2` in this form). The quick test keeps one entry for Bilbo and one for Gandalf, with a count of `2`.

![Deduplicate quick test comparing Email field 2 and keeping two unique entries from three](/documentation/flowcrafter/screenshots/example-deduplicate-settings.png)