Features

Features.

Workbook Compare looks at but does not touch your data. One of the fundamental principles behind spreadsheet data comparison and validation is that data that is being analyzed, as well as the structure that contains it, should remain in its original state. Workbook Compare never sorts your data, inserts rows or adds "helper" columns to your spreadsheets.

Automatically prepares the comparison setup with the most predictable mappings, and then gives you total control to override every conceivable possibility. For example, you can compare any workbook to any other, any worksheet to any other (including comparing worksheets within the same workbook), any column to any other (including comparing columns within the same worksheet). You can override the header rows. And if you want, you disable the automatic mappings and set everything up yourself manually.

Choose whether to treat a worksheet like a database table by assigning one or more unique keys. However, Workbook Compare goes one step further by guaranteeing uniqueness for repeated data. If you have two "John Smiths" in your worksheet, for example, and only have "Name" to key on, Workbook Compare handles this with its advanced indexing engine.

Provides unsurpassed detail of your differences. Filter and analyze your differences in the comfort of Excel. Extensive metadata provides a real context of the differences so that you do not have to ping-pong back and forth between your spreadsheets and the differerence report to understand them

Has an intuitive user-interface so that you don't have to RTFM if you don't want to. Has tooltip suggestions for virtually every feature, and a detailed description of each option in the options dialog.

Can ignore "white noise" differences such as report titles and time stamps so you can focus on your most important data.

Apply actions in bulk, such as "Compare All" worksheets and columns, but you may override and customize exactly which objects you want to compare and what they are mapped to.

Highlight your differences so you can spot them in your spreadsheets easily. Allows you to specify the exact colors you want in the highlighting wizard. In keeping with its light footprint philosophy, allows you to "undo" the highlights to revert to your original formats.

Create projects so that repeated comparisons are a breeze. Edit, rename, and make copies of your projects. When you are ready to compare again, simply select the project to open and Workbook Compare automatically configures it exactly as you have specified. A project called "Autosave" is automatically saved after each comparison.

Compare formulas as formulas (A1 or R1C1) or values.

Choose from several difference report layouts.

Choose whether to ignore small differences with a +/- variance allowance (e.g. .001). May be set as a percent.

Choose whether to enforce case sensitivity when comparing text values.

Choose whether to limit the number of differences per column. E.g. report the first 10 differences per column.

Choose whether to display all of the differences or just column header indicators.

For an at-length discussion of why I created Workbook Compare, see this article ».

Screenshots

Workbook and worksheet setup
After you select the workbooks, Workbook Compare scans them and sets up the comparison.

Column mapping
Map a column to any other. Optionally set Unique Keys to treat worksheets like database tables.

Options

Difference report
The difference report is an Excel workbook. Filter, analyze and print the report in the comfort of Excel. Several report layouts are available to choose from. This is a snapshot of the report -- many more columns are included with valuable information about the differences.

Highlight differences
Spot differences in your workbooks by formatting them with the Highlight wizard. You may also conveniently "undo" the highlighting to get your original formatting back.

Projects
Save your comparison as a project for later reference, making repeated comparisons a breeze.

Table Compare - A "tool within a tool"
For simple table-comparisons when you don't need the power and flexibility of Workbook Compare.