Comparing 2 speadsheets

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
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G

Guest

Hello! I have 2 spreadsheets of data (they are lists of attorneys with their
name, phone, address etc..) and I want to check to see if they have the same
information, or if one is diferent from the other and what fields, if any,
are different. Is there an easy way to accomplish this? Thanks for any help
you can provide.
 
Hi,
The easiest & quickest way I know for doing a "one off" check (if the
sheets are small or expected to be very similar eg both sorted
alphabetically etc) is to insert a new spreadsheet in the file (or in
one of the files if the 2 sheets are in separate files) that the 2
sheets are in.

In cell A1 of the new sheet type "=" and then select cell A1 of one of
the 2 existing sheets with the mouse, type "=" again, select cell A1 of
the other existing sheet with the mouse & press [enter]. This will
result in a formula similar to below:

='Other Sheet'!B55='Original Sheet'!A1

and will result in either "TRUE" if they are the same or "FALSE" if
they are different. Copy cell A1 down as many rows & across as many
columns as needed to cover all the data & then use Find to search for
the "false" values.

If the sheets are expected to be quite different or may have had rows
inserted the above technique is not very helpful. In that case check
out the bottom of Chip's page below which describes how to "Extract
Values On One List And Not Another":

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


hth
Rob Brockett
NZ
Always learning & the best way to learn is to experience...
 
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