Download Spreadsheet Compare Tool to compare Excel files

Find and highlight differences in Excel spreadsheets. Compare two and three Excel sheets for unique and duplicate rows. Merge several Excel spreadsheets.
Spreadsheet Compare Tool (xlCompare) is the best utility, that compares Microsoft Excel files for differences. xlCompare is a leading and most effective Spreadsheet Compare Tool. Spredsheet Compare tool gives you detailed comparison report with all differences found in Excel files in a seconds. With xlCompare complex and time-consuming work became simple!
Compare two columns in Excel (Compare two worksheets with Spreadsheet Compare Tool)

What is Spreadsheet Compare?

Spreadsheet Compare Tool compares two worksheets and presents you differences between them. xlCompare is fast and most efficient Speadsheet Compare Tool that highlights differences in 2 or 3 Excel workbooks. xlCompare is completely independent from Microsoft Excel and works as standalone application. The software is based on the Spreadsheet Core engine, developed by Spreadsheet Tools. It allows to load and calculate Excel workbooks without involving Microsoft Excel components.
xlCompare doesn't depend on the version of Microsoft Office you have on your computer. It is always ready to help you with spreadsheet comparison and merging tasks.
Difference report in Excel diff tool
Spreadsheet Compare: difference report

Tasks solved by Spreadsheet Compare Tool

What Spreadsheet Compare Tool (xlCompare) can do for you:
  1. Compare Excel worksheets for differences
  2. Compare two columns for matching rows in Excel files
  3. Compare Excel sheet by key columns
  4. Filter compared data by specific segments
  5. Compare Visual Basic macros for differences
  6. Compare Visual Basic forms and controls for differences
  7. Find and extract matching (duplicate) and unique records in Excel sheets
  8. Merge changes found between Excel files
  9. Merge several Excel files into one
  10. Combine worksheets into one sheet
  11. External diff viewer for Excel files in the SVN and GIT repositories
  12. Compare and merge Excel files from command line
  13. Analyze calculations in the Excel worksheets
The list above covers primary tasks, solved by xlCompare tool. As you see, xlCompare performs complete comparison of the Excel files. So, this is ultimate comparison tool for all spreadsheet users, who needs to find differences in their Excel files.
Filter data by segment in Excel file

What are the benefits of choosing xlCompare?

There are several spreadsheet comparison tool and online services, that find differences in Excel files. What are the primary advamtages, gives to you by xlCompare if you choose it as your Spreadsheet Compare Tool.

Simplicity

xlCompare transforms operations you need to do in Excel application into set of simple actions.
Actually, this is a key basis of the application - make spreadsheet comparison as simple as possible.

Effectiveness

In just a few clicks you are getting the results. xlCompare saves your working time and efforts.
Armed with this Spreadsheet Compare Tool you will be as productive as never before.
You will significantly descreasy time and efforts you are spending on comparing your spreadsheets.
In the modern world time is a valuable resource, and can't be recovered.

Error free solution

xlCompare minimizes risk of error. If you are doing spreadsheet comparison manually, you have much higher risk of error. Remember - companies lose millions of dollars every year due to errors in their spreadsheets.
Spreadsheet Compare Tool was tested in the millions of Excel files all over the world.
This is time-proven effective solution.

Incredible performance

xlCompare compares Excel workbooks with millions of rows in a few seconds and gives you comprehensive difference report.
If you are working with large files, you receive from your partners or colleagues - this tool will be a real timesaver for you.
On the large spreadsheets comparison tasks can cost you hours of work.
Spreadsheet compare tool in the action

Find differences in two Excel files

Open your files in Spreadsheet Compare

To give you best representation of the comparison results, xlCompare is divided into 2 panels, that displays workbooks:
Spreadsheet Compare Application Window Layout
There are several method how to open Excel files in the Spreadsheet Compare tool. You can use File | Open commands on the ribbon. Or Open File command on the every panel in the spreadsheet compare main window.
But the most easy way is just drop your files into the xlCompare window.
To compare 2 Excel files for differences, drop your Excel files into xlCompare window from the Windows Explorer.

Select sheets you would like to compare

xlCompare immediately starts the comparison and shows you a wizard where you can choose pairs of the compared worksheets, modules and forms and choose comparison options for every part of the worksheets:
Comparison Wizard in Spreadsheet Compare Tool
In most cases you should not select or changed anything in this window. Just close it by pressing red Compare button and proceed to the comparison report.

Getting Comparion Report

After you complete this Wizard by pressing the Compare button, xlCompare gives you comparison report:
Comparison Report produced by Spreadsheet Compare Tool
Bottom part of the window contains structured list of differences, that is grouped by worksheets and by type of the difference:
  • Updated Cells
  • Unique Rows
  • Unique Columns
Worksheet Panels display color coded difference report. All differences are highlighted with background color:
  • Updated cells with orange color
  • Unique rows and columns in the left file - green color
  • Unique rows and columns in the right file - red color

Working with comparison report

Formatting options (background color, font settings, border color) can be changed in the Application Options.
Display Trend in the Comparison Report in Spreadsheet Compare
For every changed cell xlCompare displays Original and Modified value and tendency icon.
Tendency icon indicates increase or decrease of the numeric value. Red Down arrow icon means that value was decreased. Green Up arrow icon means that value was increased.
You can select option to display difference between cell values instead of modified value in the Application Options.

Where to download Spreadsheet Compare

Spreadsheet Compare Tool (xlCompare) is published on the xlCompare website xlCompare.com.
To download the tool to your computer, please use the link below:

Filter Unique and Modified Rows

Compare tab on the ribbon contains set of commands, that filters data on the worksheet:
  • All cells
  • Only matching rows
  • Only rows with updated cells
  • Only unique rows
Using Spreadsheet Compare Tool to filter Unique Rows
When filter is active, other rows are hidden. To get read of hidden rows on your worksheet, use Remove Hidden Rows on the Compare tab on ribbon.

How to merge changes on the Excel worksheets

Every changed cell and unique row(column) have a Merge button, that is displayed as arrow icon.
Insert new row to the corresponding worksheet
Press this icon to copy cell or entire row into the corresponding worksheet.
To merge range of cells at once, select it on the worksheet and press one of the merge buttons.
These simple commands allow you to quickly merge differences between Excel files.

Compare Excel worksheets by Primary Keys

Primary Keys are often used in the database tables, and should be used in the spreadsheets, that contains tables, exported from the databases.
xlCompare allows to define primary key columns and rows on the worksheet and select database specific algorithm in the Comparison Wizard.
To mark column or row as a key, select it and apply right click menu command: Set as Primary Key
Set Primary Key with right click menu
To view and edit all keys in your Excel files use Edit Primary Keys command on the Table tab on ribbon:
Edit Primary Keys menu command

How to compare only 2 selected sheets

To compare only two selected worksheets for differences, open them in xlCompare and use Compare Sheets command on the Compare tab on ribbon:
Compare Sheets command in Spreadshet Compare

Compare Visual Basic Projects

xlCompare compares contents of the Visual Basic projects in the Excel files. It compares:
  • Code in the modules
  • Code in the forms
  • Controls on forms
xlCompare has own viewer for visual basic project, that displays contents of all modules and form controls organized in a hierarchical tree form.

Compare three Excel files

One of the common cases is a three-way comparison. This means that you need to compare two Excel files that have the same base version. This situation often occurs in the SVN and GIT systems, where you are working in the multiuser environment.
This also could be three different Excel files, without marking one of them as base version.
Activate 3-file mode by using the 3-File command on the Compare tab on ribbon:
3-File menu command in Spreadshet Compare
xlCompare displays you additional third panel and gives you a way to select third file:
Compare Multple File in Spreadshet Compare Tool
Now you can select 3 files and compare them in the same way as you compare 2 Excel workbooks.
In the comparison report, created for three Excel files you can filter unique\matching rows and merge changes.

Merge Excel Files

xlCompare gives you following set of commands to merge contents of the Excel files. All of them are located on the Merge tab on the ribbon.
Merge Excel Files in Spreadsheet Compare
  1. Merge Files
  2. Merge Sheets
  3. Merge Folders
  4. Combine All Sheets Into One
  5. Update Files
  6. Update Sheets
What are the differences between these commands?
All merge operations work in the left to right direction. Data is moved from left sheet to the right one.
Merge Sheets. This command adds contents of the left worksheet into the right one. It works like a copy-paste operation.
Merge Files. The same command as Merge Sheets, but it is applied to all worksheets in two opened Excel files. Data from the left file is appended to the right file.
Merge Folders. Merge contents of all Excel files in a specific folder.
Combine Sheets. Use this command to combine all or several worksheets in the same file into one. xlCompare displays you a wizard where you can select which sheets you are going to merge and select worksheet that receives data.
The difference between merge and update commands is the following:
  1. Merge commands just appends all data from the source sheet into the target
  2. Update commands copy only changed values and unique rows. So, there will be no duplicate records on your worksheets after this operation.
Update Sheets. Compare two worksheets and copy all changed values and unique rows from the left file into right one.
Update Files. Compare all sheets in the opened files and copy only changed cells and unique rows into the right file.
In addition to the commands described above you can use merge commands on the worksheets, that appear in changed cells and unique rows\columns.

Create Comparison Report

After you get comparison results on your screen, you can save them into file on disk or create a PDF report.
Create Difference Report in Spreadsheet Compare Tool
Create Report command on the Compare tab on ribbon creates outlined report for the compared files\sheets and displays it in the separate window.
Report contains description of all changes found between Excel files.
You can export this report into XLSX and PDF format.

Integrate xlCompare into SVN and GIT applications

If you are using version control application to store Excel workbooks, you need a diff viewer application for this type of files.
All commands, that are available in the xlCompare are duplicated in the command line mode. So, you can configure your SVN to use xlCompare as a third-party external diff and merge tool for XLS, XLSX, XLSM, XLA, XLAM and CSV files.
To compare two Excel files from command line you need to use following syntax:
"C:\Program Files\Spreadsheet Tools\xlCompare\xlCompare.exe" %file1 %file2 /quit_on_close
File1 and file2 are paths to the files you are going to compare.
Quit_on_close key says to xlCompare to exit the application after you complete the comparison.
Complete list of the command like parameters is available on the xlCompare website:

Evaluate Formula Logic in Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet Core engine, that is a basis of xlCompare allows us to give you commands that simplify your work with spreadsheets.
Evaluate Formula command, that is present on the Tools tab on the ribbon and in the right click context menu on the worksheet, displays selected formula, divided into the sub-expressions in the hierarchical tree form.
You see value of every subexpression and understand where the value of the formula came from.
Evaluate Formula in Spreadsheet Compare Tool
You can expand the subexpressions and precedents to go in-depth until the input cell appears.
This command displays return value of some functions like OFFSET, that produce indirect dependencies on the worksheets. Usually it is hard to determine which range OFFSET function returns. But xlCompare exactly points you to this range.

Conclusion

As you see, xlCompare is a feature rich Spreadsheet compare tool. Armed with this tool you will be able to solve all spreadsheet comparison and merging tasks you experience on the daily basis.

Proc

Spreadsheet Compare is a easy to use application that perfectly works for spreadsheet comparison and merging. This spreadsheet compare tool is a real timesaver in many cases. With xlCompare you can do complex tasks in a seconds.

Cons

Possible xlCompare has one minus - this tool is not free. You can use it during evaluation period, but after it expires you need to order a license.
However if you need to find differences in your Excel spreadsheets only once, you can do this during evaluation period.
So, for one-time use xlCompare is absolutely free.

Why xlCompare is an ultimate Spreadsheet Compare tool

xlCompare can be used in various cases that requires spreadsheet comparison. Following advantages makes this tool ultimate utility for Excel file comparison:

 Easy to use

Spreadsheet Compare has very clear and native interface, that is very similar to Microsoft Excel.

 Effective

xlCompare makes you effective in your daily work with Excel. This saves you a lot of efforts and working time.

 Clear results

You are getting clear and easy to understand comparison results. You can see examples on the screenshots above.

 Reasonable price

Actual price of xlCompare is amount of time spent to spreadsheet comparison multiplied by your hourly rate. So, the application has reasonable price in comparison with other tools on the market.

 Lifetime license

Spreadsheet Compare (xlCompare) is sold as a lifetime license. You don't need to pay more for this tool. License includes upgrades to all future versions of the xlCompare and support.
Now we have version 11 on the website. If you order it now, you will be able to upgrade it to xlCompare 12, xlCompare 15 and so on.
You never lose your license.

What is Spreadsheet Compare Tool?

In general Spreadsheet Compare is tool (web service) that compares Excel files for differences. There are number of Excel file comparison tools on the Internet, that you can use as Spreadsheet Compare tools.

How to choose best Excel comparison tool?

Please, scroll this page above to this topic (best Excel comparison tool). Our purpose to give you best Excel comparison tool that will save you time and money!
You may say that there is a free tool called Spreadsheet Inquire, that is available with Microsoft Excel 365 Professional Plus. Why should I use xlCompare as my Spreadsheet Compare tool?
In the next topic Spreadsheet Compare vs. Spreadsheet Inquire we've noted some differences between these tools. We suggest you to review this information before you make a decision.

Spreadsheet Compare and Spreadsheet Inquire Add-in

When do you need Spreadsheet Compare (xlCompare) tool and when you can use free Spreadsheet Inquire Add-in
Some versions of Microsoft Excel include Spreadsheet Compare Add-in, that is called Spreadsheet Inquire in the list of Excel Add-ins.

What is Spreadsheet Compare Add-in

Spreadsheet Inquire is available in the Office 365 Professional. It is not available in the other versions of the Microsoft Excel 365. This is COM Add-in that compares Excel files for differences.
It is installed with Microsoft Excel, so it is free for you if you already have Microsoft Excel 365 Professional on your computer.

Main differences between the Spreadsheet Compare and xlCompare

Spreadsheet Compare Add-in is a perfect tool that finds different cells in the Excel files. If you need only to find changed cells in your Excel models, probably this is good and working solution. In this case you don't need a professional tool like xlCompare.
We've compared 2 small Excel files with Spreadsheet Inquire Add-in:
Compare Excel files in Spreadsheet Inquire
You are getting highlighted differences and summary report in the bottom part of the window.
Below screenshot of the same files, compared with xlCompare:
Excel Compare vs. Spreadsheet Inquire
xlCompare compares these worksheets by primary keys and gives you more accurate results:
  • Row with Orange was highlighted, even it is present on the other worksheet.
  • xlCompare uses several types of colors to highlight the differences on the worksheets. This greatly increase readability of the report.
  • xlCompare displays tendency (increase or decrease of the numerical values).

List of the differences

This one you are getting in Spreadsheet Inquire Add-in
List of differences in Spreadsheet Inquire
This one is a summary of changes in the xlCompare
Summary of changes in xlCompare
  • xlCompare detects inserted and removed rows, while the Spreadsheet Inquire reported only changed cells.
  • xlCompare allows to collapse branches in the report tree. This simplifies navigation if you have several worksheets compared.

Processing unsorted data

Spreadsheet Inquire works incorrectly with unsorted data:
Unsorted data in Spreadsheet Inquire
Probably, you need to sort the data on the worksheet yourself before comparison.

Other benefits of xlCompare

  • merge cells between the worksheets
  • command line mode
  • compare multiple Excel files at once
  • filter comparison results
  • evaluate and debug formula logic

Conclusion

If you need only to find a modified cells on your worksheets - Spreadsheet Inquire Add-in is a good solution that will help you.
In case if you need to merge changes made in the Excel files, extract rows that are present on the other Excel worksheet, configure your spreadsheet compare tool as diff viewer for Excel files - xlCompare is your reliable partner!

Download Spreadsheet Compare Tool

Best Spreadsheet Compare tool, you can use to compare Excel files for differences is xlCompare. Download it for free and start comparing your spreadsheets now. Spreadsheet Compare (xlCompare) is a real timesaver for many business cases that require spreadsheet comparison.

Features of the Spreadsheet Compare tool:

  1. Compare Cells
  2. Compare Formulas
  3. Compare Visual Basic Projects
  4. Merge Excel files (spreadsheets)
  5. Compare multiple spreadsheets
This is just a part of the Spreadsheet Compare options, but this is the most common operations our users require from Spreadsheet Compare.
This page on the xlCompare website describes how the Spreadsheet Compare Tool works:
To download Spreadsheet Compare, please visit this page:

How can I get Spreadsheet Compare?

Spreadsheet Compare tool is a standalone application you can use on your computer. Is doesn't require Microsoft Excel to be installed. So, if you have Microsoft Excel 356 on your computer - you can use Spreadsheet Compare. Even if you have old version of Excel like Excel 2010, you can install and use Spreadsheet Compare from Spreadsheet Tools.

So, how to install Spreadsheet Compare on your PC?

  1. Visit Download page
  2. Download and save setup package
  3. Unzip setup file and run it
  4. Follow the instructions
  5. Find xlCompare shortcut on your desktop
  6. Run Spreadsheet Compare
You will be surprised how easy and convenient Spreadsheet Compare tool works!

Is Spreadsheet Compare tool free?

This depends on the Spreadsheet Compare tool you are using. xlCompare offers you rich set of comparison commands you can use in the evaluation version.
So, you can compare your spreadsheets for free with this diff tool.

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