Quickly Identify Column Differences
Excel Tip #021 Quickly Identify Column Differences If you need to compare two or more columns of data, there are various methods you can use in Excel to check for differences. Sorting, Conditional Formatting and using formulas such as MATCH or VLOOKUP are just a few of them. For years, whenever I needed to compare two columns of data, I used a simple formula such as =B2=C2 that would give me TRUE if the cells are the same and FALSE if they aren't. But there's and even easier and faster way identify differences in columns of data without using formulas. Select the columns to compare Press press CTRL + \ (or press F5, Special.., Row Differences , OK). Cells in the 'non-control' column(s), whose values don't match the values in the control column, are selected Add a background Fill color to make the selected cells more visible For 2-column and multiple row comparisons, Right-click one of the highlighted cells and choose Filter, Filter by Selected Cel...