1. Overview
Use the File > Compare Workbooks command to find differences between two data sets. These data sets may be:
- entire workbooks in any supported file format,
- single worksheets,
- cell ranges.
You can freely choose where the first data set comes from and where the second one is located. The comparison always starts from the top-left cell of each data set and proceeds left to right. When comparing cell ranges to other ranges, worksheets or entire workbooks, the ranges may be located anywhere within their worksheets.
If the dimensions of the compared data sets differ, non-empty cells from the larger data set are treated as differences unless you select the option to compare only existing, non-empty cells from both data sets.
When comparing entire workbooks, sheets are compared one by one, ignoring sheet names. Cells from missing sheets are treated as differences, except when the option to compare only existing cells is selected. The comparison concerns only cell contents: text, numbers, formulas and their values. Formatting and other metadata are ignored.
2. Compare Workbooks Dialog
The Compare Workbooks dialog box:
You can choose the source data options independently for each workbook or data set. At least one of the three options must be selected, and you can mix them freely. For example:
- If the Workbook option is not selected, the Sheet and Cell range options refer to the workbook that was active when the dialog was opened. If only the Workbook option is selected, the entire workbook will be compared.
- If the Sheet option is not selected, the specified cell range will refer to each sheet in the workbook. If only the Sheet option is selected, only that sheet will be compared.
- If the Cell range option is selected, only cells from that range will be compared. If the Sheet option is not selected at the same time, the same range will be compared across all sheets.
3. Selecting Workbooks
Clicking the Browse button opens the standard Open dialog with recently used files and folders. The selected workbook is opened in the same way as with the regular Open File command, including all applicable file format options.
4. Saving Comparison Results
If the Save comparison results check box is clear, GS-Calc will only display the number of differences found.
If the Save comparison results check box is selected, Gs-Calc will save all found differences as a new time-stamped sheet in the workbook that was active when you clicked Compare Workbooks. You can also specify the folder within that workbook where the results should be saved.
5. Progress Dialog
The progress dialog box shows the current status of the comparison:
6. Comparison Report
The comparison report contains two groups of four columns each and may include up to 32 million rows of found differences. For example:
The first column in each group contains hyperlinks to the differing cells in the first and second data sets. Clicking these links allows you to quickly edit, correct or update the cells. To return to the same position in the report workbook, click the rightmost “back” bookmark button on the toolbar. Note that jumping back requires the report workbook to be saved and named.