Comparing Workbooks

This tip works! Tips from other sources did not until I amended those tips using what you shred in this post. Specifically, I wanted to see the difference in cell contents actually displayed. E.g. if for instance cell A1 in WB1 contains the word "dog" and cell A1 in WB2 contains the word "cat", I wanted to get a result that specifically stated that [WB1]Sheet1!A1 contains "dog" and [WB2]Sheet1!A1 contains "cat". Other sources suggested using "vs" but their formulae did not work. I amended one formula and followed your instructions above (amended formula used: =IF([WB1]Sheet1!A1 <> [WB2]Sheet1!A1, "[WB1]Sheet1:"&[WB1]Sheet1!A1&" vs [WB2]Sheet1:"&[WB2]Sheet1!A1, "") and saw success. Your very specific instructions in this article (including the need to use a new workbook) produced the result that I desired (result obtained: [WB1.xlsx]Sheet1:dog vs [WB2.xlsx]Sheet2:cat). Thank you! Keep up the excellent work. Best Regards C. A. M. (Jamaica)

@ J. Woolley: Thank you for the links; I found the first one later yesterday and will try them.

@Kiwerry
Also, see https://sourceforge.net/projects/spreadshcompare/

@Kiwerry
See https://www.ablebits.com/office-addins-blog/compare-two-excel-files-sheets/

My attempt to activate the inquire com addin mentioned by Michael Hodgkinson failed because I don't have s high enough version of Excel - I have Office 365 family at 99€/year. My search brought up the following information: "This is only available in the Professional Plus editions (Office 2013/2016/2019/2021) and Office 365 Enterprise." Yay.

Any hints on sourcing an affordable version which has this addin would be gratefully received - or is there a site where on can purchase the addin?

Hi Jake. True - apologies hadn't spotted for 2007 and 2010 only. I am on 2013 / 2016.

Just to mention October next year 2020 Office 2010 will not longer be supported so maybe time to go O365 / 2016.

Best Regards

Mike H

Mike Hodkinson, what version of excel are you using. This tip is for 2007 and 2010. I think you are in a newer version. Excel is changing rapidly with the advancements from version to version. With that being said thank you for sharing when I get to the newer version I will be all over that.

All

A fairly recent new addition to Excel has been the not too well publicised "Inquire" COM Add-In and one of it's key features is "Compare Files".

Quote: "The Compare Files command lets you see the differences, cell by cell, between two workbooks. You need to have two workbooks open in Excel to run this command.

Results are color coded by the kind of content, such as entered values, formulas, named ranges, and formats. There's even a window that can show VBA code changes line by line. Differences between cells are shown in an easy to read grid layout."

How about using this as it provides a far more in depth and accurate report on the exact differences even in VBA code.

To activate go to your Developer Tab and click on COM Add-Ins icon and Inquire should be listed here tick this and a new menu option will appear. If not you will have to go to Add-Ins within File -Options and add it firstly there.

Hope you find this of interest and assistance.

Mike H

Good Morning,

This Tip came just on the right day! I just today had to compare two workbooks and it worked perfectly.

Thanks for the Tip.

I am having a hard time make this formula work - I am trying to compare text, not just numeric values.
I have tried to re-write the formula using the appropriate workbook, and worksheet names, and also trying to copy the formula into relative cells, but it doesn't seem to be working...any hints?

Hello.
To Michael, I would slightly reformulate it as:

= IF( '[WB1.xlsx]Sheet1'!A1 = '[WB2.xlsx]Sheet1'!A1,
"", "R" & ROW() & " C" & COLUMN() &
"S1= " & [WB1.xlsx]Sheet1!A1 &
"S2= " & [WB2.xlsx]Sheet1!A1 &
IF( AND( ISNUMBER([WB1.xlsx]Sheet1!A1), ISNUMBER([WB2.xlsx]Sheet1!A1) ),
" (∆= " & [WB1.xlsx]Sheet1!A1 - [WB2.xlsx]Sheet1!A1 & ")", "" ) )

To Thiago:
For example, on cell A1 of your worksheet, go to Conditional Formatting > New rule > Use a formula (...), type in:
= NOT( A1 = '[WB2.xslx]Sheet1'!A1 )
and choose a format.
Then extend this conditional format to all cells of interest via Conditional Formatting > Manage rules.

It's amazing the help you all provided.

Would that be possible to have a formula where doing the comparison instead of showing True or Different etc it would show what has been changed?

Let's say Cell A3 was Bathroom and someone changed to Bedroom

Would be possible to have a formula showing what has been changed and what for?

How about a hidden formula on the original document that could be sent to the client and if he/she makes any changes it would simply create a copy of the actual spreadsheet as Sheet 2 for example with the changes in RED?

Would you believe it would be possible?

Thank you so much

Thank you Michael and Glenn! I've never used the symbols in formulas, but it certainly adds flair to the result.

Peter:

To insert symbols such as ∆, go to the Insert Tab and select Symbol from the Symbols tab. The available symbols will change depending on which font set you have selected.

Peter, just copy it to the clipboard from the character map application

... or, to meet Michael's goals below with a simplified formula, just replace "Different" in Allen's formula with:

[WB1.xlsx]Sheet1!A1&"<>"&[WB2.xlsx]Sheet1!A1

to get a non-cluttered worksheet with only the pertinent information. You can use FIND to find the <> if you have a large spreadsheet.

Michael,
How do you get the Delta symbol into your formula?

If comparing two spreadsheets, knowing the difference would only be the 1st step. Then you would probably need to know the values in both.

To prevent having to toggle back and forth between the two sheets, we could modify the formula to something like (with embedded carriage returns, word-wrap turned on, and row height set to 45 to accommodate 3 rows per cell):

=IF([WB1.xlsx]Sheet1!A1=[WB2.xlsx]Sheet1!A1,
"",
IF(AND(ISNUMBER([WB1.xlsx]Sheet1!A1),ISNUMBER([WB2.xlsx]Sheet1!A1)),
"R "&ROW()&" C "&COLUMN()&"
1= "&[WB1.xlsx]Sheet1!A1&"
2= "&[WB2.xlsx]Sheet1!A1&" (∆= "&[WB1.xlsx]Sheet1!A1-[WB2.xlsx]Sheet1!A1&")",
"R "&ROW()&" C "&COLUMN()&"
1= "&[WB1.xlsx]Sheet1!A1&"
2= "&[WB2.xlsx]Sheet1!A1))

For non-numeric fields, it would yield a result of:

R 3 C 1
1= A22334
2= B22334

For numeric fields, it would yield a result of:

R 4 C 3
1= 3.1
2= 3.3 (∆= -0.2)

@Gary, sorry I should have finished reading your email, I do see that you added another step to hi-light the False results, still an added step however.

@Gary, your formula certainly would work too, but wouldn't you end up having to sort thru a sheet full of True & False, rather than just seeing the word different here and there?

An easier formula would be:
=[WB1.xlsx]Sheet1!A1=[WB2.xlsx]Sheet1!A1

This results in TRUE or FALSE based on values being equal or not. Then use conditional formatting to highlight the FALSE results... Also easily created using point and click, you just have to change the Absolute to Relative before copying cells in the COMPARE workbook...