Compare Excel Files Without Formulas

Learn how CompareSheets works inside Excel — no complex formulas, just fast and accurate comparisons.

How to Install

  1. Open Excel → Insert → Add-ins → Get Add-ins
  2. Search for CompareSheets and click Add
  3. Pin the task pane → sign in → start your free trial
  4. Or install from the Microsoft AppSource page

Recommended Usage

Run the comparison in a new, empty Excel workbook. This avoids conflicts with existing data or sheet names, because the add-in creates two sheets: Comparison Results and Summary of Changes.

  • ⚠️ Headers: Both Old and New files must have headers starting at A1.
  • ⚠️ Merged cells: Avoid merged cells — they can disrupt the comparison.
  • 💡 Desktop Excel preferred: For best performance, use Excel for desktop. Excel for the web supports files up to 3 MB.

How to Use

  1. Select Files: choose the Old and New Excel files
  2. Pick Sheets: select the worksheet from each file
  3. Confirm Keys: CompareSheets suggests up to 3 key columns automatically
  4. Skip Columns (optional): ignore irrelevant columns (still included in output)
  5. Run: review color-coded results + summary sheet

Key Column (Required)

The CompareSheets add-in includes a built-in algorithm that automatically identifies unique key columns.
Click Confirm if the suggested keys are correct, or modify/uncheck them as needed.
Note: To ensure an accurate comparison, it’s essential to correctly identify the unique keys.

Skipped Columns (Optional)

The CompareSheets add-in allows you to skip specific columns from being highlighted as changes—such as a Timestamp column.

⚠️ Important: Skipping a column does not mean it will be excluded completely. Data from skipped columns will still be copied into the final results, but it will not be highlighted or used to determine if a row has changed.

  • For rows marked as Deleted or Updated_OLD, the value from the Old file will be shown.
  • For rows marked as Match, New, or Updated_NEW, the value from the New file will be shown.

This allows you to ignore columns that aren't relevant to the comparison—like timestamps or automatically generated values—without affecting the actual data copied from each file.

Color Legend

  • MATCH – no changes
  • UPDATED – values changed
  • NEW – new row or column
  • DELETED – row or column removed

Time Savings with CompareSheets

File size Manual effort With CompareSheets Time saved
Small
~500 rows × 10 cols		 30–40 min Seconds ≈30 min
Medium
1,000–5,000 rows × 15–20 cols		 1–2 h Under 1 min ≈1–2 h
Large
10,000+ rows × 25+ cols		 4–8 h 2–5 min ≈5–7 h

On a typical medium file (~2–5k rows), CompareSheets saves about 1.5–2 hours each run.
If you run just 2 comparisons per week, that’s already ≈12–16 hours per month.
For 3 per week, the savings grow to ≈18–24 hours per month.