How compare two files?

[kevs]

Someone was saying to me that there is a way to take two very similar files
and have excel examine them, and let you know what is missing from one of
the files that is in the other file.

If possible, how does one do this? Thanks.

OS 10.4.3
Office 2004

 

[grigsoft]

I'm not sure, maybe new excel have such ability. If this is one time
task, you can use our Compare It! tool from http://www.grigsoft.com/ -
it can handle xls files.

Igor Green
http://www.grigsoft.com/
Compare It! + Synchronize It! - files and folders comparison never was
easier!

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello -

Perhaps they were referring to the Merge Workbooks feature, but AFAIK there
is no "compare' feature in Excel. In order to use the Merge certain
conditions must be met before hand... You can't just merge _any_ two
workbooks. The following criteria is from Excel Help where you can find more
info on the Merge Workbooks feature:

€ All workbooks must be copies of the same workbook.
€ The original workbook must be a shared workbook that has the change
history feature turned on (see Notes below).
€ The workbook copies either must not have passwords or must all have the
same password.
€ Each workbook copy must have its own unique file name.


HTH |:>)

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Someone was saying to me that there is a way to take two very similar files
and have excel examine them, and let you know what is missing from one of
the files that is in the other file.

If possible, how does one do this? Thanks.

I don't know of any utilities that look at entire workbooks (though it
wouldn't be that hard to build one, I suspect).

Myrna Larson and Bill Manville wrote an excellent add-in that compares
two worksheets at at time (not entire workbooks). You can download it
from

http://www.cpearson.com/excel/download.htm

(look for "Compare"). The dialogs are sized for Windows, so they don't
look very pretty in MacXL, but the add-in works fine.

 

[kevs]

Thanks JE, I'll check it out.

Thanks Igor:
Looks good, but only for windows your software, NO?
This is Mac excel forum.

I don't know of any utilities that look at entire workbooks (though it
wouldn't be that hard to build one, I suspect).

Myrna Larson and Bill Manville wrote an excellent add-in that compares
two worksheets at at time (not entire workbooks). You can download it
from

http://www.cpearson.com/excel/download.htm

(look for "Compare"). The dialogs are sized for Windows, so they don't
look very pretty in MacXL, but the add-in works fine.

OS 10.4.3
Office 2004

 

[kevs]

BTW
Anyone know how to use the compare add in.
I just downloaded it and see an .xla file on my desktop.
I have no idea what to do with it. Thanks!

 

[Helpful Harry]

Someone was saying to me that there is a way to take two very similar files
and have excel examine them, and let you know what is missing from one of
the files that is in the other file.

If possible, how does one do this? Thanks.

For single worksheets, the easiest way would be to create a new
worksheet / document and type into the cell A1 the formula:

= IF(Sheet1!A1 = Sheet2!A1, "", "* DIFFERENT *")

Where "Sheet1!A1" and "Sheet2!A1" are the A1 cells in the two
worksheets being compared - when typing the forumla you just need to
swap to the appropriate worksheet / document and click in cell A1 (when
swapping back you may need to manually delete some extra text).

Press the Enter key to accept the formula. Then click on cell A1 again
and either:
- do a Select All

or - select enough cells to cover the ones
you want to compare

then do a Fill Right and Fill Down (both in the Edit menu). It can take
a while on older computers and needs extra memory added to the Execl's
allocation for Mac OS 9 users.

Any cells that are different between Sheet1 and Sheet2 will then
contain the text "* DIFFERENT *". )





Helpful Harry
Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Anyone know how to use the compare add in.
I just downloaded it and see an .xla file on my desktop.
I have no idea what to do with it. Thanks!

You can find the instructions in the "Load or unload an add-in program"
topic in XL Help.

Put the add-in where you want it (it's OK to leave it on the desktop).
In XL, choose Tools/Add-ins... Click "Select" (or "Browse", depending on
the XL version) in the Add-ins dialog. Navigate to wherever you stored
the add-in. Click Open. IN the Add-ins dialog, the add-in should now be
listed with its checkbox checked. Click OK to install the add-in.

The Compare add-in adds a menu item to your Tools menu: Compare
WorkSheets... Choose that menu item to compare your sheets.