Compare Workbooks in Excel

Comparing Two Workbooks Side by Side in Excel 2007

Sometimes you have two versions of a workbook, and you want to compare the differences in the data visually. Excel provides a convenient feature that allows you tocompare two documents side by side.

To use this feature, follow these steps:

1. Open the workbooks you want to compare.

2. Click the View tab on the Ribbon and then click the View Side by Side button. Excel arranges the windows of the two workbooks horizontally. If you have more than two workbooks open, Excel displays a dialog box from which you select the name of the workbook you want to compare with the active workbook.

3. Click a worksheet tab in each workbook to display the worksheet data you want to compare.

4. In the View tab, click the Synchronous Scrolling button to toggle synchronized scrolling on and off. After you enable synchronized scrolling, the rows and columns in the two worksheets being compared scroll simultaneously.

5. You can click the Reset Window Position button in the View tab to ensure that the two workbook windows are sized equally and aligned horizontally. You need to use the button only if you adjust either or both window sizes during the current session.
Tip:

You can save the layout of the open workbooks you’re comparing for future use.