UNIQUE

Supported, behaves as documented

Category: Lookup and reference · Last tested 2026-08-06

Real, executed compatibility results for the UNIQUE function across Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and LibreOffice Calc — verified by actually running it. Syntax and links to each vendor’s official documentation are below.

✓ Supported in LibreOffice since 24.8.7.2. We ran UNIQUE under every LibreOffice release we test (24.2.0.3, 24.8.7.2, 25.2.0.3, 25.8.7.3): it returned #NAME? (unrecognized) in 24.2.0.3 and first works in 24.8.7.2. If you need UNIQUE in LibreOffice Calc, use 24.8.7.2 or newer.

Support matrix

Engine	Documented	Live-tested	Verdict
Excel	Yes	Not yet	n/a
Google Sheets	Yes	Not yet	n/a
LibreOffice Calc	No	Yes (25.8.7.3, 2026-08-06)	Supported, behaves as documented

LibreOffice version history

We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when UNIQUE’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.

LibreOffice version	Verdict	Tested
24.2.0.3	Unsupported (not recognized)	2026-07-19
24.8.7.2	Supported, behaves as documented	2026-07-19
25.2.0.3	Supported, behaves as documented	2026-07-24
25.8.7.3	Supported, behaves as documented	2026-08-06

Why isn't UNIQUE working in LibreOffice?

If UNIQUE returns a #NAME? error in LibreOffice Calc, you are almost certainly running a release older than 24.8.7.2 — that is exactly what our executed tests show: #NAME? in 24.2.0.3, working from 24.8.7.2 onward. Check your version under Help → About LibreOffice and upgrade to 24.8.7.2 or newer; no setting or extension enables it in older releases. (Other causes of this error: see the error values guide.)

Executed test cases

LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-08-06)

Formula	Description	Result	Expected	Verdict
=UNIQUE(A1:A5)	Basic unique list preserving first-occurrence order	{1, 2, 3}	{1, 2, 3}	Matched
=UNIQUE(A1:A5,FALSE,TRUE)	exactly_once=TRUE returns only items that appear exactly once	{3}	{3}	Matched
=UNIQUE(A1:C2,TRUE)	by_col=TRUE compares whole columns instead of rows	{1, 2}	{1, 2} Column A and column C are identical (1,1); unique columns are {1,2} and {1,1} but by_col dedups the repeated column, leaving 2 columns: [1,2] and [1,1] -> flatten to first row [1,2]	Matched
=UNIQUE(A1:A3)	Input with no duplicates returns the input unchanged	{5, 6, 7}	{5, 6, 7}	Matched

Docs & syntax

Excel: official documentation
Google Sheets: official documentation