Compare Two Excel Files

How it works

1. 1Upload the original file and the new one.
2. 2We find a column that identifies a row — a customer ID, an invoice number, an email — so rows are matched properly rather than by position.
3. 3If no column identifies a row, or two would do equally well, we ask you rather than guessing.
4. 4You get rows added, rows removed, values changed and columns renamed, and a Comparison Report workbook with a sheet for each.

When people use this

• —A vendor sent a revised price list and you need to know what moved
• —Checking what an import actually changed
• —Comparing this month’s export with last month’s
• —Verifying a migration between two systems

Supported formats

This tool accepts .csv, .tsv, .xlsx, .xls. Two files: the original, then the new version. We work out the encoding and the separator from the file itself, so a semicolon-separated export or one saved in a non-UTF-8 encoding opens correctly rather than as a single column of nonsense.

Questions

How does it know which row is which?

It looks for a column whose values are unique and present in both files — an ID, an SKU, an invoice number, an email. Matching by position is the last resort and we label it loudly when we have to use it, because a single inserted row would otherwise make every row below it look changed.

What if a column was renamed?

We compare the values, not just the headings, so a column that was renamed is reported as renamed rather than as one deletion and one addition.

What happens to my file?

It is uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed, and deleted automatically - within 24 hours for anonymous use. We never use anyone’s spreadsheet data to train models. You can delete a job and its files at any time from the job page.

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