Microsoft: Spreadsheet Compare 2013

If you have access to Excel 2013 through Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013 or through selected Office 365 subscription plans, you have access to a terrific new feature in Excel that allows you to electronically compare two workbooks and identify any differences in those workbooks. This new feature – Compare Files – is very powerful and, as you will see in this tip, is very easy to use.

To compare two Excel workbooks, begin by opening the workbooks. Then, choose Compare Files from the Inquire tab of the Ribbon and select the two workbooks you want to compare, as follows:

Upon clicking Compare in the lower right corner of the Select Files To Compare dialog box, Excel analyzes the two workbooks and generates a detailed analysis that highlights differences in data, formulas, formatting, and other characteristics. The figure below presents a sample of that analysis.

The Compare Files tool identifies differences between the two workbooks in the following fourteen areas; although for any given analysis, you can choose not to display the results of one or more of these tests.

In summary, Compare Files, a new Excel 2013 feature found on the Inquire tab of the Ribbon, offers a tremendous amount of power to help you identify, quickly and easily, the differences between two Excel workbooks. However, be aware that it is only available in certain editions of Excel 2013, so be sure to consider that when considering which version of Microsoft Office 2013 you choose to license.