In today’s data-driven world, Microsoft Excel remains an indispensable tool for managing and analyzing information. Whether you’re tracking sales figures, managing project data, or compiling financial reports, Excel workbooks are at the heart of many operations. Often, you might find yourself working with multiple versions of the same workbook or needing to compare data across different Excel files. Identifying the differences between these files can be a crucial but potentially time-consuming task. Fortunately, Microsoft provides a built-in tool called Spreadsheet Compare designed to streamline this process.
This guide will walk you through how to effectively use Spreadsheet Compare to pinpoint the disparities between two Excel files, saving you time and ensuring accuracy. Understanding how to compare Excel files for differences is a valuable skill for anyone working with spreadsheets regularly.
Getting Started with Spreadsheet Compare
Before diving into the comparison process, it’s important to note the availability of Spreadsheet Compare. This powerful tool is included with specific versions of Microsoft Office, namely Office Professional Plus 2013, Office Professional Plus 2016, Office Professional Plus 2019, and Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. If you’re using one of these versions, you should have access to Spreadsheet Compare.
Opening Spreadsheet Compare
Accessing Spreadsheet Compare is straightforward.
- Navigate to the Start Menu: Click the Start button on your Windows taskbar.
- Locate Spreadsheet Compare: Look for Spreadsheet Compare in your list of applications. If you don’t immediately see it, simply start typing Spreadsheet Compare. The application should appear in the search results.
- Launch the Application: Click on Spreadsheet Compare to open the program.
Once launched, Spreadsheet Compare presents a user-friendly interface ready to help you analyze your Excel files.
Comparing Two Excel Workbooks Step-by-Step
The core function of Spreadsheet Compare is to highlight the differences between two Excel workbooks. Here’s how to conduct a comparison:
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Initiate File Comparison: In the Spreadsheet Compare window, click Home > Compare Files. This action will open the Compare Files dialog box.
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Select the Earlier Workbook (Compare): In the Compare Files dialog box, locate the Compare box. Click the blue folder icon situated next to it. This will open a file explorer window, allowing you to browse your computer or network to find the earlier version of your Excel workbook. You can also input a web address if your files are stored online.
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Select the Later Workbook (To): Next, find the To box and click the green folder icon beside it. Browse to and select the more recent version of the workbook you want to compare against the earlier one. Click OK after selecting the file.
Tip: It’s possible to compare two files even if they have identical names, as long as they are saved in different folders.
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Choose Comparison Options: Before running the comparison, you can specify which aspects of the workbooks you want to examine. In the left pane of the Compare Files dialog box, you’ll see a list of options such as Formulas, Macros, and Cell Format. Check the boxes next to the elements you wish to include in the comparison. To compare everything, simply click Select All.
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Run the Comparison: Once you’ve selected your comparison options, click OK to start the process.
If you encounter an “Unable to open workbook” message, it’s likely that one or both of the Excel files are password protected. Click OK on the message and you will be prompted to enter the password for the protected workbook(s). Spreadsheet Compare is designed to work with password-protected files, ensuring you can still analyze them.
Understanding the Comparison Results
After running the comparison, Spreadsheet Compare displays the results in a clear, two-pane grid.
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Side-by-Side Grid: The left pane displays the workbook you selected as the “Compare” file (typically the older version), and the right pane shows the “To” file (usually the newer version). Each worksheet within the workbooks is compared side-by-side. If your workbooks contain multiple worksheets, you can navigate through them using the forward and back buttons on the horizontal scroll bar. Importantly, even hidden worksheets are included in the comparison and will be displayed in the results.
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Color-Coded Differences: Spreadsheet Compare uses color-coding to highlight the types of differences found between the files. Changes are indicated by cell fill colors or text font colors, depending on the nature of the modification. For example, cells containing “entered values” (data entered directly, not formulas) that have been changed are typically highlighted with a green fill color in the grid and a green font in the details pane.
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Legend Pane: The lower-left pane of the Spreadsheet Compare window serves as a legend, explaining what each color code represents. This is crucial for quickly interpreting the comparison results.
Example Interpretation: Imagine you’re comparing two versions of a sales report. If you see green-filled cells in a particular column, it might indicate that the sales figures in those cells were manually updated between the two versions. If you see blue-green filled cells in a totals row, it could signify that calculated values have changed, likely as a result of changes in the underlying data or formulas.
In cases where cell content is truncated due to column width, you can click Resize Cells to Fit to automatically adjust column widths and view the full cell content.
Leveraging Excel’s Inquire Add-in
While Spreadsheet Compare is a dedicated application for file comparison, Excel itself offers a related tool called the Inquire add-in. Available in Excel 2013 and later, the Inquire add-in provides a range of analytical capabilities directly within Excel.
Once enabled, the Inquire add-in adds an “Inquire” tab to the Excel ribbon. From this tab, you can:
- Analyze Workbooks: Gain insights into workbook structure, formula relationships, and potential errors.
- Explore Cell Relationships: Visualize dependencies between cells, worksheets, and even across multiple workbooks.
- Clean Excess Formatting: Remove unnecessary formatting that can bloat file size and hinder performance.
Notably, if you have two Excel workbooks open simultaneously, you can launch Spreadsheet Compare directly from Excel using the “Compare Files” command found within the Inquire add-in (if enabled).
If you don’t see the Inquire tab in your Excel, you may need to activate it. You can find instructions on how to do this by searching for “Turn on the Inquire add-in” in Excel Help.
Taking It Further: Enterprise-Level Solutions
For organizations managing “mission-critical” Excel workbooks and Access databases, Microsoft offers more advanced, enterprise-grade solutions. Microsoft Audit and Control Management Server provides robust change management features specifically designed for Excel and Access files. Complementing this, Microsoft Discovery and Risk Assessment Server offers inventory and analysis capabilities to help mitigate risks associated with user-developed tools in Excel and Access environments.
These server-based solutions provide a higher level of control and auditability, particularly important in regulated industries or for businesses with stringent data governance requirements.
Conclusion
Knowing how to compare two Excel files for differences is an essential skill for anyone working with spreadsheets. Microsoft Spreadsheet Compare offers a powerful and accessible way to quickly identify changes, errors, and inconsistencies between workbooks. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can effectively leverage this tool to enhance data accuracy, streamline your workflow, and save valuable time. Whether you’re a business professional, data analyst, or anyone who relies on Excel, mastering file comparison techniques will undoubtedly boost your productivity and data management capabilities.
