Comments on: How to compare two columns in Excel for matches and differences

The tutorial demonstrates a number of techniques to compare and match two or more columns in Excel with formulas, conditional formatting and the specialized wizard. Continue reading →

Comments page 12. Total comments: 552

  1. hi, i need a formula to detect the values of the weight in a column and if it is more than the value then to add 7.50 but if it is less then the value to add 4.
    so for example if the products weigh less than 0.4 then i need the cell to add 4 but if they weigh more than to add 7.5

  2. hi
    i have three unequal column and i want to extract unique cells for first column in compare with two another columns. how can i do it?

  3. Thank you very much. Its working. worth full article!

  4. Salaam everyone.
    I have two excel columns each containing 63,000 values. I want to find out all the values where entries of column A are greater than those of column B. How can I do that?
    Thanks in advance
    Stay blessed.

  5. I am working on aligning university rankings, as you can see the universities are ranked differently in 2008-2009. Is there a way to use excel to align the universities with corresponding rankings? There are hundreds of them for 12 years, so you can see it is mammoth task.

    2008 2008 2009 2009

    Sussex 26 cardifff 26
    Cardiff 27 Sussex 27
    Queen's 28 Reading 28
    Reading 29 Sussex 29
    Glasgow 30 Surrey 30
    Birming 31 Strathclyde 31
    Manches 32 Manche 32

  6. I need a formula that will help me identify duplicate parts/product at different pricing. When I use the conditional formatting on both columns all of the cells are highlighted because it's looking at just the columns as duplicates.

    1. Hi, Eva,

      I managed to do that in the following way:
      1) I decided to use a helper column (C) that checks if the product (A1) is duplicated and its price (B1) is unique with the following formula:
      =COUNTIFS(A:A,$A2,B:B,"<>"&B2)
      If the condition is true the formula returns 0, since it can't find any duplicated products with unique prices. Otherwise, it returns 1.

      2) I created a following conditional formatting rule:
      =$C1>=1
      and applied it to my table =$A:$C

      As a result, I can see all the duplicate products with unique prices highlighted in yellow.
      Try to do the same with your data, hope it helps!

  7. Hi,

    I need to compare two columns that should be the same, but the data in each comes from different sources.

    Both columns are dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm format.

    My issue is that in one column, there's an extra " " between the date and time, and when I run my comparison =AND formula, the extra space is causing it to fail.

    Can you suggest a way I can easily remove the extra space, or get Excel to ignore the extra space?

  8. Hi
    I have tow columns of data. in column2 there is sum of data of column1 how i can compare tow columns and recognize which numbers is sum one number in other column? for example column1 is contains 1,2,5,3,6 and column 2 is 8,9 how i can determine 8 in column2 is sum of which numbers in column 1
    thank you

  9. Hi,

    I have 3 columns of data and am comparing Column 3 data with Column 1 and 2 for duplicates. I could use the conditional formatting but I was thinking if there is an excel formula that I could use?

    Column 1 Column 2 Column 3
    15 14 12
    12 17 11
    11 18 14
    10 17 16
    20 25 15

    Thank you.

  10. I have 2 columns, each column have value. Is it possible to move a value beside its same value? for example:
    Column 1 Column 2 OUTPUT
    1 1 1
    2 3
    3 3

  11. =IF(COUNTIF($A:$A, $B2 )=0, "REQUIRED", "NOT REQUIRED")

    I want this formula to be stopped when $Bx is null...

  12. wow!!!!!!!!!!!!great...thanks...really useful....

  13. Hello,

    I am wanting to compare two columns of data and if those columns are equal, I'd like to execute a calculation.

    I am using the formula:

    =IF('Raw Data'!A:A=Analysis!A:A,SUMPRODUCT('Raw Data'!C:C,'Raw Data'!I:I)/SUM('Raw Data'!I:I))

    This returns FALSE. How do I fix it?

  14. thanks, this page information help me a lot

  15. Hi,
    Context - i have 2 versions of a document. In it i have 2 tables with alphanumeric values which i want to compare to see if any changes have been made in the recent version.

    Requirement - i want to compare the alphanumeric values of the two columns (one column from each table as mentioned above) tables and want to highlight only the part that has been changed instead of the whole cell and want the result in a third column.

    Question - is there a resolution to the above scenario?

  16. Product Id Current profit Margin Last yr profit margin
    123 51% 49%
    126 53% 50%
    129 55% 51%
    132 57% 52%
    135 59% 53%

    Mark red color for the cells where last year profit is greater than current year profit and color pink for the product id which is red cells

    have to find using conditional formatting

  17. I have two column that,the value to be matched with the another one another`s criteria column. First column contains exact number and second column contains number with description.

    Suggest me further..

  18. Hello,

    Very useful, but I need help comparing two columns. I want it to be able to tell that google inc is the same company as Google ABC, or that Brown university is the same as University, Brown. It would be helfpul if the matches are highlighted. Thanks!

    EX:
    Column 1 Column 2
    google inc. Capital one
    Brown University University, Brown
    Visa Google ABC

  19. If in one column there are name entries with negative and partly failing values associated with them and in another column there are name entries with positive yet yet highly conservative values associated with them, how do I sort the dump the negatives, eliminate the failing and merge into a single positive highly conservative list so that I can quickly get to the golf club?

  20. I have a sheet in which I am trying to find out that a particluar cell value will happen on which date. I have a column where there are equal installments of 2 Lakhs and there is column beside it containing dates starts from 01.04.2017 and ends on 01.01.2024 for those installments. Now, if for the first installment customer pays only 50,000 till 01.10.2017 then how can I find using the formula that from which date the overdue is coming and how much?

  21. Hi,

    Below is a sample of the data I have. I want to match the data in Column A and B. If column B is not matching column A, I want to add a row and copy the data from Column A to B. For example, "4" is missing in column B, so I want to add a space and add "4" to column B so it will match column A. I have a large set of data, so I am trying to find a different way instead of checking for duplicate values in the two columns and manually adding one row at a time. Thanks!

    A B C D

    3 3 Y B
    4 5 G B
    5 6 B G
    6 8 P G
    7 9 Y P
    8 11 G Y
    9 12 B Y
    10
    11
    12
    11
    12

  22. How to Salve This Prablem

    KS IN_Kirana Stores KSN Kirana Store New
    KS IN_Kirana Stores KSN Kirana Store New
    KS IN_Kirana Stores KSN Kirana Store New
    PS IN_Pan Shop PSA Paan Store
    PS IN_Pan Shop PSA Paan Store
    KS IN_Kirana Stores CSA Kirana Store New
    CS IN_Kirana Stores KSN Kirana Store New
    KS IN_Kirana Stores KSN Kirana Store New
    KS IN_Kirana Stores KSN Kirana Store New
    KS IN_Kirana Stores KSN Kirana Store New
    KS IN_Kirana Stores KSN Kirana Store New
    PS IN_Pan Shop KSN Paan Store
    CS IN_Cosmetic Store CSA Cosmetic Store

  23. Hi Meli,

    As i can see it's time sheet of employee. I understand your query. But without sample sheet i am unable to put formula here. so share any short sample sheet fot add formula.

    1. In Time Out Time In Time Out Time
      11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 10:50:00 AM 8:40:00 PM = PRESENT

      11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM - - = Single Punch (This should be absent) Absent

      11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 11:30:00 AM 8:35:00 PM = LATE

      11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 11:00:00 AM 7:00:00 PM = EARLY

      11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 11:30:00 AM 5:35:00 PM = LATE/EARLY

      11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 8:45:00 PM - = Single Punch Absent (This should be SP)

      11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM - - = Single Punch Absent

  24. Hi, I need help with a formula.

    The Formula for blank cell was very helpful Thanks.

    I have two formula with is correct answer, i combined the formula but there is error.

    Formula 1 -
    IF(OR(C3="",D3=""),"Single Punch",IF(AND(C3>A3,D3>=B3),"LATE",IF(AND(C3>A3,D3<B3),"LATE/EARLY",IF(AND(C3<=A3,D3<B3),"EARLY","PRESENT"))))

    Formula 2 -
    IF(AND(IF(AND(NOT(ISBLANK(C3)),NOT(ISBLANK(D3))), C3=D3, TRUE), IF(AND(NOT(ISBLANK(C3)),NOT(ISBLANK(D3))), C3=D3, TRUE), IF(AND(NOT(ISBLANK(D3)),NOT(ISBLANK(C3))), D3=C3, TRUE)), "Absent", "-")

    Would you Please help me find solution.

    Actual Time Log Time Remarks
    In Time Out Time In Time Out Time
    11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 10:50:00 AM 8:40:00 PM PRESENT -
    11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM Single Punch (This should be absent) Absent
    11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 11:30:00 AM 8:35:00 PM LATE -
    11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 11:00:00 AM 7:00:00 PM EARLY -
    11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 11:30:00 AM 5:35:00 PM LATE/EARLY -
    11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 8:45:00 PM Single Punch Absent (This should be SP)
    11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM Single Punch Absent

    Please help

  25. Your page is excellent; your team is very helpful. I'm struggling with an issue. I have one sheet where I would like to highlight only the rows where values duplicated in the first column where the there are differing values in the second column. Duplicates are allowed in the first column. Duplicate values are allowed in the second column, also. However, duplicated values in the first column should always be paired with the same value in the second column. If not, then highlight all rows where first column contains the same duplicated value.

    Thank you.

    Col-A Col-B Format
    1 C Highlight Row
    1 C Highlight Row
    1 D Highlight Row
    2 A No Highlight
    2 A No Highlight
    3 E No Highlight
    4 C No Highlight
    5 A Highlight Row
    5 F Highlight Row

  26. The spread sheet contain two column. In first column there is only the level i.e., Block, GP and Village and in another there is name contain of the respective Block, GP and Village. Let me know how I can manage the sheet that looks like in this manner as follows

    Block GP Village
    Block Name GP Name Village Name
    (if there is 10 village then it is shown in row wise)
    GP Name Village Name

  27. Not understand the question dear.

    1. Scenario1 :

      Check text "abc.AD" in sheet one, and return the next two cell values in sheet two.
      Note: The unique text is not in same column.

      Sheet 1 :
      Col10 Col11 Col13 Col14 col15 abc.AD Test NOP
      abc.AD Ext NOP
      abc.AD Int NOP
      Let me know if this helps

  28. Hello There, i am kind of stuck with manipulating the excel worksheets.

    Scenario : Compare the cell text in two excel and replace range of value in sheet two with Values in Sheet one. Any guess how can we achieve this ?

    Scenario : Wanted to Pull the Values from Sheet one With all the Cells containing abc*(text)in sheet 1 and Copy the same Text and adjacent 3 Values from each row.

    Sheet 1 :

    row/col Col1 col2 col3 col4
    row1 123 abcde ghk 143

    Sheet 2 :

    row /col Col1 col2 col3 col4 col5
    row1 abcde ghk c143

  29. Hello There, i am kind of stuck with manipulating the excel worksheets.

    Scenario : Compare the cell text in two excel and replace range of value in sheet two with Values in Sheet one. Any guess how can we achieve this ?

    Scenario : Wanted to Pull the Values from Sheet one With all the Cells containing abc*(text)in sheet 1 and Copy the same Text and adjacent 3 Values from each row.

    Sheet 1 :

    row/col Col1 col2 col3 col4
    row1 123 abcde ghk 143

    Sheet 2 :

    row /col Col1

  30. Hi All,

    Is it possible to compare my example below ? i need to compare column a + b in column c + d . my problem is on column a there is same values . please help me to create formulas if possible

    column a column b column c column d
    64571 75 64351 72.1
    64351 72.1 64571 75
    64571 73 64571 73

  31. I'm trying to pull information from one spreadsheet into another, where the combination of two cells of data in each spreadsheet match exactly.
    Each spreadsheet contains two columns that contain the exact same data:
    Spd 1 - Column D> Work Order
    Spd 1 - Column M> Contract Unit Name

    Spd 2 - Column I> Work Order
    Spd 2 - Column Q> Contract Unit Name

    Spd 2 - Col VInvoiced Amt

    So where Spd 1, Col D and Col M = Spd Col I and Col Q, Import the value in Col V into Spd 1 Col O (Invoiced Amt)

    Data sample:
    Spd 1:
    Work Order Contract Unit Name
    E.724292.C.03 NRE-ROW AGENT BEA
    E.724292.C.03 NRE-ROW AGENT I
    E.731518.C.17 NRE-EXISTING RIGHTS LEVEL I
    E.731518.C.17 NRE-EXISTING RIGHTS LEVEL II
    E.732518.C.17 NRE-PROJECT COORDINATOR
    E.732518.C.17 NRE-TITLE SEARCH I

    Spd 2:
    Work Order Contract Unit Name Invoiced Amt.
    E.724292.C.03 NRE-ROW AGENT BEA 100.00
    E.724292.C.03 NRE-ROW AGENT I 75.00
    E.731518.C.17 NRE-EXISTING RIGHTS LEVEL I 125.00
    E.731518.C.17 NRE-EXISTING RIGHTS LEVEL II 175.00
    E.732518.C.17 NRE-PROJECT COORDINATOR 95.00
    E.732518.C.17 NRE-TITLE SEARCH I 200.00

    Do I use MATCH and INDEX and what would my formula look like?

  32. Thanks so much for this TA; this just saved me a LOT of time!

  33. Need help,
    I'd like to be able to compare two cells with unique strings
    Ex. A1 = xyz0_ok_hmu1-ty
    B1 = ok1_ty
    I want it to be able to recognize that it is similar to a minimum of 2 ordered letter matches and be highlighted as "similar". If it is able to ignore multiple delimiters, that would be cool too.

    2. btw, the strings are a bunch of acronyms that doesn't make sense, and people have their own way of writing it therefore there are a lot of differences and minimal similarities.

  34. I have a spreadsheet with over 100000 service name entries, however the service name can be named slightly different on several rows. I want to know if there is a formula which can highlight any mis matches in column B And C. For example the service is APERTURE but I can be known as APERTURE-CONT or APERTURE-UAT, however the owners name is different. I don't fancy going through all 10000 lines so was hoping there may be a formula that can highlight this
    SERVICE Owner First Name Owner Last Name
    APERTURE JOE BLOGGS
    APERTURE-CONT JOE BLOGGS
    APERTURE-UAT DERREN YOUNG

  35. Hello,

    I need assistance with this. I want to compare values of 2 columns. I want a visual marker that will highlight (or mark as a duplicate) as long as any value of one column is contained in the other column.

  36. Hello,

    I need help on this issue. I want to compare values of 2 columns. I want a visual marker that will highlight (or mark as a duplicate) as long as any value of one column is contained in the other column.

  37. Hello.
    I need help on this issue. I wan to compare values of 2 columns. These values, even though they same, are not necessarily arranged in same order or may not even be of same string, eg.

    Jason Paul Macaulay Macaulay Paul
    J P Macaulay Jason Paul Macaulay
    Macaulay Jason Jason Paul Macaulay
    Macaulay Paul J P Macaulay

  38. Hello, I have been trying pull some matching data with little luck. I have 2 data sets 1 with demographic information and one with home sales information. Both have addresses I have broken down by: home number, direction,street name. These data sets are on 2 different sheets. How do I find matching: home number, direction, street name on each sheet? Hopefully that makes sense.

  39. Hi,

    Hopefully someone can understand what I am trying to do here.

    I am currently going through some spreadsheet files and I would like to find case based non-duplicates e.g.

    Column A Column B
    Row 1 Harry Potter Ron Weasley
    Row 2 harry potter Ron Weasley

    Basically I am looking for true non-duplicates where the case of the text is concerned, the above example using the method I am currently using (Conditional formatting and Highlight duplicate values) will mark the above A1&A2 example as a duplicate even though the case being different, I would like a solution to mark the A1&A2 entry as a non duplicate by any visual method to differentiate from an actual true duplicate entry e.g. B1&B2, note I do not want to manipulate the data to become true duplicates just want to highlight the case differences.I'm cross examining two Rows with about 40-50 Columns, in a multitude of files.

    Is what I am trying to achieve possible?

    Any and all help will be appreciated.

    Kind Regards
    Jack

  40. any feedback

  41. Hi
    I need to make filter for unique value that created by multi user once per month per user than we need to calculate the QTY of the unique number per user

    Example for my Question:

    transaction_date Value User_NAME
    --------------------------------------------------
    1/1/2017 1222889205 MarK
    --------------------------------------------------
    2/1/2017 1222889205 Mac
    --------------------------------------------------
    4/1/2017 1254879863 Eva
    --------------------------------------------------
    21/2/2017 1225478962 Jake
    --------------------------------------------------
    4/5/2017 1254879863 Eva
    --------------------------------------------------
    5/5/2017 1254879863 Eva
    --------------------------------------------------
    1/6/2017 1254793658 Mac
    --------------------------------------------------
    1/6/2017 1254793658 Jake
    --------------------------------------------------
    6/6/2017 1254793658 Eva
    --------------------------------------------------

    **my Solution

    Month user Count for uniqe value
    --------------------------------------------------
    jan MarK 1
    Mac 1
    Eva 1
    -----------------------------------------------
    Feb JaKe 1
    ---------------------------------------------
    May Eva 1
    ----------------------------------------------
    Jun Mac 1
    JaKe 1
    Eva 1
    ---------------------------------------------

    Appreciate your support thanks

  42. I am facing an issue of 10,000 row items contains data for visits.

    data contains same name but different start date and end date

    Shop Name Opening End
    CRUSH TRUCKING STATION 12-May-11 22-Dec-14
    SUPERIOR II FILLING STATION 11-Dec-13 14-Mar-14
    INDUS FILLING STATION 13-Dec-13 21-Feb-14
    INDUS FILLING STATION 21-Feb-14 17-Oct-14
    SUPERIOR II FILLING STATION 14-Mar-14 23-Oct-14
    INDUS FILLING STATION 17-Oct-14 25-Jan-15
    SUPERIOR II FILLING STATION 23-Oct-14 16-Jan-15
    SUPERIOR II FILLING STATION 16-Jan-15 08-May-15

    Is there any solution for above to adjust columns in start and end date in same shop name

  43. I need some help.
    I am using vlookup to draw information from sheets A and B and then compare them side by side on Sheet C. The values happen to be in time format. I need to have a formula (or a quick system) to highlight the the cells so that I can quickly spot the different in the times and then correct them. The spreadsheet that I am using is already full of useful conditional formatting and so would really like it to just appear a different colour so that it gets my attention.

    Any suggestions much appreciated

  44. Hi, I need to copy data from one cell to another on daily basis
    Example,
    A1 : =TODAY() //Changes Daily
    B1 : =SUM(B2:B10) //Changes Daily

    I need the B1 value to be copied on C1
    Next day B1 value to be copied on C2
    Next day B1 value to be copied on C3 and so on...

    Waiting for your support
    Thanks in advance

  45. HELP!

    Would you please help me?

    It is really important.

    What i want to do is this

    compare columns for any two or more cells with the same values within the same row and hightlight individual rows after matching

    I have 20 different columns that i need to compare for any two or more duplicate cells among them

    How can i do that with the simplest way?

    Thank you

  46. Hi,
    I have an sheet with columns from January to December where people make contributions on monthly basis. A person's contribution is the same through out the year.

    I would want a formula that shows if someone is contributing the same figure throughout the year or not, kind of like "True" and "False" formula but it should be checking in all the columns thus January-December and not just two columns whose formula I know is =A2=B2

    Thanks.

  47. not working the below formula in excel 2016, please guide if any changes on this?

    =IF(COUNTIFS($CU2:$CU59862,CU2, $CA2:$CA59862,CA2, $FL2:$FL59862,FL2, $DA2:$DA59862,DA2, $DV2:$DV59862,DV2) >1, "DUPLICATE ROW","")

  48. Excellent resource. I have two worksheets. one with 25,000 rows and the other with 63,000 rows and i want to find out the complete match of sheet2 to sheet 1, the ones without any match and others with at least 90% match. please how do i go about this. thank you

  49. Hello I have 10 values in Col A and 3 values in Col B. I want to highlight only values that match col A with Col B and mark others in a diff color . How do i do it?

    Col A Col B
    1 1
    2 6
    3 9
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Col A Col B
    1 1 Match
    2 No match
    3 No match
    4 No match
    5 No match
    6 6 match
    7 No match
    8 No match
    9 9 match
    10 No match

  50. Hi, kindly help me derive a proper formula for this problem. I am using two sheets Sheet 1 & Sheet 2 in excel 2013. I created a drop down value (1-15 & 1-15) in the first sheet using data validation to derive two numbers in two different cells. In the second sheet I have created variables (with 1-15 in one cell and 1-15 in another cell) to derive a result in the third column). Say, in the first sheet I have one column no. of factories (1-15) & No of Managers (1-15). In the second sheet I have created the variable; No. of Factories, No of Manager & in the third row their Operating hours:

    No of Factories: 1/2/3/4/5/....
    No of Managers: 1/2/3/4/5/....
    No of Operating hours: 8 (in case 1,1), 15 (1, 2), etc.

    Now in the first sheet I want to use the drop down values to enter what i want to know and get the result using a formula.

    Kindly help me with this.

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