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Quickly Compare Data using Row Differences

  • Last updated on February 14, 2011
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Since Financial Modeling School 2nd batch is opening next week, things have been a bit crazy at chandoo.org HQ.

So we will start the week with an ultra quick tip. It always surprises me that not many people know this. So here it goes,

Lets say you have some data in 2 columns and you want to compare row by row to spot the differences. Of course you can write a formula or apply conditional formatting. But there is a quick and dirty solution that works just as fine.

  1. Select both columns with data
  2. Press F5 and select special (alternatively, from home ribbon, click on Find & Select and then choose Goto Special)
  3. Now, click on “row differences” and press OK.
  4. Excel instantly highlights all the cells in 2nd column that do not match with first column.
  5. Just change their color or something so you know where to focus your attention.
  6. Done!

See this demo to follow the steps:

Quick compare data and find mismatches using Row Differences feature - MS Excel

Want more? Here is more:

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6 Responses to “Using Lookup Formulas with Excel Tables [Video]”

  1. Damian says:
    November 9, 2010 at 8:20 am

    H1 !
    this is my very first comment.
    Can you use same technique with Excel 2003 lists ?
    thanks 😀

    Reply
  2. Tom says:
    November 9, 2010 at 6:58 pm

    Thanks, Chandoo! I like seeing the sneak peak of what's to come on Friday too 🙂

    Reply
  3. Chandoo says:
    November 11, 2010 at 8:09 am

    @Damian.. Welcome to chandoo.org. Thanks for the comments.

    Yes, you can use the same with Excel 2003 lists too.

    @Tom.. You have seen future and its awesome.. isnt it?

    Reply
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  6. Q.fg says:
    May 4, 2015 at 8:36 pm

    Hi, is there a vlookup formula for the second example (IDlist)? I used a similar formula to look up the ID for the person, but the reverse way (look up the person with the ID) comes up N/A.

    Reply

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