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 9. Total comments: 552

  1. What if I need to mark a duplicate ONLY if the data in two columns is the same as in a different row?

    batch sn
    784666 F00001 S006
    784664 F00001 S005
    784668 F00001 S005
    784668 F00001 S006
    784668 F00001 S006

    Only the bottom row in this sample should be marked as a duplicate....

  2. Hi I am trying to compare twho list and use the formula =countif() but when I write the formula it gives an error that says "there is a problem in formula Not trying to type a formula? ..."
    And it does not accept the formula unless I delete = from the formula and if I delete it does not highlight the data. How can I fix it?

  3. Hello. I have a problem. I have been given a spreadsheet of students expected and actual grades in different subjects.

    I need to format the data so that if the expected grade is higher than the actual grade both turn red. if the actual grade is higher than the expected grade they both turn green and if both grades are the same they turn yellow.

    1. never mind. I found a solution that works

  4. I have a list of items and all have distinct names. I need to compare the items with a list of known partial matches and have the result be the partial match. For example:

    Distinct list:
    F-daniel-01
    R-rose-20
    C-daniel-03
    T-bob-35
    A-kevin-36

    Partial match list:
    daniel
    rose
    bob
    kevin

    Result:
    F-daniel-01 | daniel
    R-rose-20 | rose
    C-daniel-03 | daniel
    T-bob-35 | bob
    A-kevin-36 | kevin

    Any advise would be great

    1. I have the exact same problem and so far I have not been able to find a solution.

  5. How to give a different mark to Blank cell
    =IF(H38645=I38645,"Match","Null")

    AA AA
    CC CC
    TT AA
    TT
    TT GT

  6. Prices in different location as below :

    Article Code - Location A - Location B - Location C - Location D
    --------------------------------------------------------------------
    GWC-20100 -------- 0 ----------- 0 -------- 43.94 -------- 0 --------
    HED-20102 ---------0 --------- 53.55 ---------0 ---------- 0 --------
    AFC-201108 --------0 --------- 88.02 ------ 80.02 -------- 0 --------
    QRH-201202 --------0 --------- 87.07 -------- 0 -------- 87.07 ------
    DJS-201209 ----- 63.09 --------- 0 -------- 63.09 ------ 63.09 ------
    HTC-201210 ----- 74.17 ------- 74.17 -------- 0 ---------- 0 --------
    PIL-201301 ----- 71.66 ------- 71.66 ------ 71.66 -------- 0 --------
    YPC-201305 ----- 70.57 --------- 0 -------- 70.57 -------- 0 --------
    RPT-P8157 ------ 51.96 --------- 0 -------- 51.96 ------ 51.96 ------
    POL-P9142 -------- 0 ----------- 0 ---------- 0 -------- 36.49 ------

    May I know for the above conditions, what are the formula that can be used to cross check whether or not if the article code is having the same price in different location?

    Your advise is highly appreciated.

  7. Article Price in Price in Price in Price in
    Code Location A Location B Location C Location D
    --------------------------------------------------------------------
    GWC-20100 43.94
    HED-20102 53.55
    AFC-201108 80.02 80.02
    QRH-201202 87.07 87.07
    DJS-201209 63.09 63.09 63.09
    HTC-201210 74.17 74.17
    PIL-201301 71.66 71.66 71.66
    YPC-201305 70.57 70.57
    RPT-P8157 51.96 51.96 51.96
    POL-P9142 36.49

    May I know for the above conditions, what are the formula that can be used to cross check whether or not if the article code is having the same price in different location?

    Your advise is highly appreciated.

  8. How to verify if the names in col A have a match in col B using one, or two words contains or any idea how can be done. Thank you

    COLUMN A COLUMN B
    ANGEL MARIE DIZON ANGEL MARIE E DIZON
    OSCAR LUCAS MARK LUCAS MARK OSCAR
    JULIE LIM MAN AREVALO
    REYNOLD B WILLIAMS JULIE ANN LIM
    JEN MARIE YU REYNOLD WILLIAMS
    MAN AREVALO B JEN YU
    STARK JOHNSON ARCH MAY TAN
    ARCH TAN JOHNSON STARK

    1. Jejemole:
      I think the only way Excel can be used to help you with this is to use the Fuzzy Logic add-in from Microsoft.
      If you Google MS Fuzzy Logic you'll see the address. The description and instructions are there, too.

  9. I have Excel file. Where there were 3 column
    1 date
    2 credit
    3 multiple debit
    and I have to reconcile credit debit column and find out difference..
    Please help

  10. I have two excel files that have very similar data. I have been using conditional formatting to compare one file to another and to highlight the differences. The issue I am having is that the first column which has the unique value that aligns the rows changes at time. Is there a way to use vlookup to align the rows to then compare for differences so I can highlight the differences?

  11. Hi, I want to compare two lists using excel, but I am not sure how to make it work.

    For example,
    List 1 contain Apple1234, OrangeXYZ, Banana098, 512Pineapple.
    List 2 contain MN_Orange, 3462Apple, 534Pineapple, 786Banana.

    I want to arrange List 2 to be same as List 1 based on the fruits, which method should I use?

  12. hello I have a situation where column A contain the staff no. and column B,C,D and E contain Normal hrs.,OT1,OT2, public holiday/sunday hrs.
    Now the situation is that I have to cope the B,C,D and E on the same column according to column A (staff no.).

  13. I have two sets of data. Guest by country and I need to copy the same to different sheet.

  14. when excel worksheets have been programmed using these conditions, can we found back the corresponding vba code associated?

    1. J-Law:
      In the Developers Tab there is a tool to View Code. When you select it the modules are available. There you can select the module and you'll see the code.
      If you don't have the Developers tab active, in 2016 you can see how to open it and how to use the tools in Excel by entering: "Display the relationships between formulas and cells" in the Tell me what you want to do box and click the help option.
      Then you'll see the article which addresses your question.

  15. I am a beginner in VBA. i need to compare the values in co11 of row1, row2, row3 so on till the end of the file. if r1c1 = r2c1 then i want to add the values in r1f1 and r2f1, if not equals go to next row. if the value in b1 of row1, row2 and row3 are equal then i wish to add the value of col f in all the rows.
    please guide me Ms svet

    1. Prasad:
      Assisting users with VBA questions is beyond the scope of this blog. There are many other sites that can help you. Google "Beginner VBA Help" and you will find them.

  16. Hello I have a situation where i have column A with part number and column B which captures status if "quote recd" or "no quote".
    the quotes are valid for 7 days. if i receive the same part number request on the 10th day i want to highlight that part number to check the status column and highlight if we have ever received quote for that part number.
    i want to use conditional formatting to highlight that part number if anywhere in Column B it finds "quote recd".

    1. Abbas:
      Where are the dates stored? Wherever they are you can follow the same procedure to highlight them as outlined below.
      If you want to highlight the B cell if it contains "Quote Recd" then select the cells that you want to highlight, go to Conditional Formatting, select the "Cells Equal To:", type Quote Recd" in the field and choose the formatting color of your choice. Click Save and then OK. Your cells should be filled with the formatting of your choice.

  17. Thank you Svetlana Cheusheva. this article really helped me. keep up the great job.

  18. Hello!
    I have 2 different sheets. On sheet2, I want to find the PN 4324568 at what is the location and it pulls the data from sheet1 which is location 14. What formula do I need?

    Sheet1
    Col A
    Row 1 PN 4324568
    Row 2 Location 14

    Sheet2
    Col A
    Row 1 PN 4324568
    Row 2 Location ??

    Thanks, Dan

    1. Dan:
      If you structure your data in sheet 1 by having PN in column A and their Location in column B you can do a VLOOKUP on sheet 2 like this:
      In Sheet 2 column A enter the Part Numbers. In column B
      directly across from the first part number enter
      =VLOOKUP(A2,Sheet1!$A$2:$B$25,2,False) where A2 is the first part number for which you need a location and also
      where Sheet1 A2:B25 are the cells which contain all of the part numbers and their locations.

  19. Hi There,

    I have an excel sheet with data in 3 different columns e.g F, H,I. I have to check the data present in col F is present in col H & I respectively. Is there any formula where I can check row by match.

  20. I asked something similar in the countif section,but this may be a better place to ask. I'm looking just to get the number of matches between two columns when compared row by row. Is there any way to do this.

    1. If I understand your question, this is how to get the sum of matches in two ranges of data:
      =SUMPRODUCT(--(A39:A45=B39:B45))
      Where A39:A45 is the first range of data and where B39:B45 is the second range of data.
      So, this answers the question "What is the sum of the number of matches in these two ranges?" or put another way, "How many matches are there in this data?".

  21. Hey, I want to compare 3 columns from one sheet to 3 columns in another sheet, can anybody help?

  22. A B. C
    2/3/18. 123
    2/3/18. 123
    1/3/18. 123
    2/3/18. 124

    I want a formula in C that return any text like say "ok" if B has multiple entry of same values and in A dates are different.

    As in above 123 has 3 entries for these 3 entries column A has two dates 2/3/18 and 1/3/18, so formula should return OK as dates are different

  23. Hi,
    Below is a sample of the data I have. I want to match the data in Column A , B and C to data in Column F, G and H. If column A,B,C is not matching column F,G,H, I want to add a row and copy the data from Column A,B,C to F,G,H. For example, "880 0 1" is missing in column F,G,H, so I want to add a space and add "880 0 1" to column F,G,H so it will match column A,B,C. 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 E F G H
    880 0 0 880 0 0
    880 0 1 880 0 2
    880 0 2 880 0 3
    880 0 3 880 0 4
    880 0 4

  24. Hello,

    Please I have one column and I need to know how to highlight two duplicated value but one (+) and one (-)

    Ex.
    123
    142
    -123
    -142

    Thank you!

  25. Hello,

    I have 2 lists
    Column A has 1000 items in it
    Colum B has 500 items in it
    I'd like column C to be just a list of items that are NOT shared in either column A or B e.g. Let's say in the 1000 words in Column A - widget is there but no where in column B - I'd like the new list in column C to have the word widget in it along with all the others that are missing in the second column.

  26. Hi, Please help with a formula with this:

    I have 2 columns, one with a code (ex: XCSDADAS) and the other with URL embedded with a code. I need to compare both the columns to see if the code in column a matches with the code in the URL.

    Thank you

  27. I have 50separate bills of 50 customers in excel. I like to get each bill in another sheet with a reference at a click.Plz help me out.

  28. Hi,
    Thank you for helping in advance.
    Please assist me in the following two columns, I need to compare two columns and extract the info like "AWC+ST" "AWC+BR" "RR+ST" "RR+BR" seperately.

    Thanks & Regards.

    Col1 Col2

    RR ST
    RR ST
    RR ST
    AWC ST
    AWC ST
    AWC ST
    AWC ST
    AWC ST
    AWC ST
    RR ST
    AWC BR
    AWC BR
    AWC BR
    RR BR
    RR BR
    AWC BR
    AWC BR
    AWC BR
    AWC BR
    AWC BR
    RR BR
    AWC BR
    AWC BR

    1. Hi Balaji,

      I am sorry, it is not very clear what the result should look like. If you can send us a small sample workbook with your data and the result you want to get, we'll be able to help you better.
      Please shorten your table to 10-20 rows / columns and email it to support@ablebits.com. Please also don't forget to include the link to your comment in the email.

      Thank you.

  29. I want to compare column A & B in list-1 with A & B In list-2.
    I wont have duplicated data but list -1 it will not be in the the same order as list-2.
    and some date may be missing from either list. after we compare A & B we need to compare A & C and so on
    the files I want to compare to large file of data (I do this often),
    I dont want to create a new helper table on the side its hard to keep organized
    Can you just apply this idea directly to conditional formatting to spot differences?
    I do not use VBA and they dont like VBA at work.
    I have researched this to no avail.

    I use Power query and power pivot if there is any help there

    no one has a video on this

    Thanks for your time

    Kim Bilton

  30. Hello. Please can you help me.

    I have a to compare 2 sheets in the same workbook. One sheet has a full sheet of customer names (12000 rows), and the second has only a few (700). I need to check that the small sheet customers all exist in the big sheet, but there could be spelling mistakes or slight differences in writing customer names. For example, sheet 1 could have Toyota, and sheet 2 could have Toyota PTY.
    How do I check the customer names, without scrolling through a 12000 row document.
    Thanks.

  31. I'm having a bit of a struggle. I have to columns. One contains the sales person's name and the other contains what they sold. I want to add the salesman's total to what type of product they sold. For example, sales person JW and the different products are home, pro, iLab. What formula can I use to give me a total number of sales for that particular item.

  32. you saved me 72 hours of work in just a day. thnks

  33. I have 3 excel columns which have values like this,
    Col_A Col_B Col_C
    ----- ----- -----
    400 600
    500 800
    400 300
    300 200
    700 900
    800 700
    500 100
    I want the values to be copied in Column C from Column B, which are not Mache with Column A values.
    I mean just copy the values from Column B, which are not available in Column A.
    Like below
    Col_C
    -----
    600
    200
    100
    Is there any excel formula using which I can achieve this?

  34. IF WE WANT TO MATCH TO 2 NO OF DIFFERENT COLUMN WITH AS SAME AS POSSIBLE DATA BUT NOT ACTUAL (EX- WB23B4152 IN (A) COLUMN BUT 4152 IN (B) COLUMN) THEN HOW WE CAN FIND?

  35. Please help me

    im in accounts and my bank statement didnt import correctly on to our system, i took the amounts from the bank into column b and the imported amouts in column A, what formula can i use to see what amount didnt import?

  36. Hi (and Happy New Year), I would like to:
    1)highlight cells with similar text (i.e: A1:blue and C12:Bluepoint) from two different columns

    2)Count if and how many times a similar text in a cell (A1:Blue) appears in another cell of another column ((i.e: A1:blue, C12:Bluepoint and C25:Bluesky.

    I have two columns with company names and I want to find duplicates (highlight them, count them), but the company names are not written always in the same way, i.e A1: cocacola ltd and C12: CocaCola company.
    Is this possible?

    Thanks a lot,Kos

  37. New _Position code
    JOB049130401803012001-002
    JOB052110609801019002-004
    JOB055350101805042003-005
    JOB055350101805042003-006
    JOB055350101805042003-007
    JOB073850101805042003-004
    JOB073850101805042003-005
    JOB077910609801019002-003
    JOB077912002801019002-001
    JOB077912002801019002-0010
    JOB077912002801019002-002
    JOB077912002801019002-003
    JOB077912002801019002-004
    JOB077912002801019002-005
    JOB077912002801019002-006
    JOB077912002801019002-007
    JOB077912002801019002-008
    JOB077912002801019002-009
    JOB078310107801019001-005
    JOB080650101805222015-005
    JOB086112001801039001-005
    JOB086112001801039001-009
    JOB086112001801039008-006
    JOB086112001801039016-005
    JOB086112001801039017-006
    JOB086112001801039025-005
    JOB086112001801039025-006
    JOB090612002801152011-001
    JOB090612002801152011-002
    JOB090612002801152011-003

    This is my list where i need to know which no is free to put in the end like -004,-005 etc which i have to put to create unique code. kinldy help me

    JOB077912002801019002

    1. Hello,

      I'm afraid there's no easy way to solve your task with a formula. Using a VBA macro would be the best option here.

      However, since we do not cover the programming area (VBA-related questions), I can advice you to try and look for the solution in VBA sections on mrexcel.com or excelforum.com.

      Sorry I can't assist you better.

  38. Hi
    I want to know the excel formula to compare column E with A to D and get the mismatch indication at column F. Pl. help. Regards

    A B C D E F
    1 2 3 4 8
    2 3 4 5 10
    6 7 8 9 5

    1. Hello,
      For me to understand the problem better, please send me a small sample workbook with your source data and the result you expect to get to support@ablebits.com.
      Please also don't forget to include the link to this comment into your email.
      I'll look into your task and try to help.

  39. May I ask how to pull out the text/string data different from column A (ie A2:A10) and Column B (B2:B10) to cloumn C

    An example of raw data set:
    A B C
    Student Name: Student Name: Missing:
    Tom Tom Jerry
    Jerry Catherine Sam
    Catherine Ada
    Ada
    Sam

    Thank you!

    1. Hello,

      Please try the following formula:

      =IFERROR(INDEX($A$2:$B$10,SMALL(IF(($B$2<>$A$2:$A$10)*($B$3<>$A$2:$A$10)*($B$4<>$A$2:$A$10)*($B$5<>$A$2:$A$10)*($B$6<>$A$2:$A$10)*($B$7<>$A$2:$A$10)*($B$8<>$A$2:$A$10)*($B$9<>$A$2:$A$10)*($B$10<>$A$2:$A$10),ROW($A$2:$A$10)-1),ROW(A1)),1),"")

      Please note that this is an array formula. You should enter this formula into the first cell in column C, hit Ctrl + Shift + Enter to complete it and copy the formula down along the column. Just select the cell where you've entered the formula and drag the fill handle (a small square at the lower right-hand corner of the selected cell) down.

      Hope it will help you.

  40. I prefer to use Index/Match function instead of Vlookup. In Vlookup we can lookup values with [A5&"*"] option, which is not possible in the Match Function. Can I get a solution to use Index/Match Function with Match(A5&"*"] ?

  41. WHEN I USE =$B2$C2 AS IN THE EXAMPLE ABOVE THERE IS NO RHYME OR REASON TO THE CELLS THAT ARE HIGHLIGHTED. COLUMNS THAT HAVE THE SAME VALUE ARE HIGHLIGHTED ALONG WITH SOME THAT ARE DIFFERNT LIKEWISE IF I USE = INSTEAD OF GET THE REVERSE OF THE CELL HIGHLIGHTE.

    ???????????????????????????????

    1. Hello,

      For me to understand the problem better, please send me a small sample workbook with your source data and the result you expect to get to support@ablebits.com. Please don't worry if you have confidential information there, we never disclose the data we get from our customers and delete it as soon as the problem is resolved.
      Please also don't forget to include the link to this comment into your email.

      I'll look into your task and try to help.

  42. IF D2=D3 and A2 not equal to A3 insert the word "Duplicate hotkey" in column E

    Sorry!

    1. Hello,
      For me to understand the problem better, please send me a small sample workbook with your source data and the result you expect to get to support@ablebits.com. Please don't worry if you have confidential information there, we never disclose the data we get from our customers and delete it as soon as the problem is resolved.
      Please also don't forget to include the link to this comment into your email.
      I'll look into your task and try to help.

  43. IF D2=D3 and A2A3 insert the word "Duplicate hotkey" in column E

  44. Hi Natalia,

    Maybe you could help me with this formula?

    I have a long Excel report of 37K lines that I would like to find duplicates in.

    These duplicates should have different value in another column. So I thought maybe it will be possible to have a formula that will add a word next to these lines.

    The formula needs to be along these lines (to my understanding):

    IF D2=D3 and A2A3 insert the word "Duplicate hotkey" in column E

    Would you be able to write such formula in Excel language?

    Many thanks,

    Avi

  45. You just saved me so much time!!! Thank you!!!

  46. I have received payment 100k
    But In our books 200k with 300 invoice how i find matching invoices against 100k

  47. i'm trying to track at what time of the day we have the biggest failure rate and highlight that time in the column. i have 5 columns, mon-fri. each column has rows broken into half hour increments. ex: row 4 is 8:30, row 5 is 9:00 etc. in the column in question, the value in row 4 is 10, row 5 is 19, row 6 is 27, row 7 is 31, row 8 is 60, and row 9 is 81. i can tell that the largest difference is between rows 7 & 8. is there a way to highlight row 8 to show that that is where the largest difference is? if so, how can i do it?

    Thanks in advance.

  48. A2- U 4 8 WENDLAND STREET PORT LINCOLN SA 5606
    A3- U 1 5 SCANLAN STREET EAST BRISBANE QLD 4169
    A4- U 16 7 BERYL STREET WESTMEAD NSW 2145

    -----------------

    B2- 4 8 WENDLAND STREET PORT LINCOLN SA 5606
    B3- 8 HEIDELBERG STREET EAST BRISBANE QLD 4169
    B4- 16 7 BERYL STREET WESTMEAD NSW 2145

    When analyzing the differences in the above two data set. As you can see, A2 is similar to B2 (except for the letter U, which represents a Unit. For the purposes of my analysis, this is correct. As is A4 & B4). But clearly A3 is a different address to B3. How do i put a simple formulae in Except, which will extract the variations from two cells?

    Thanks
    Abs

  49. How to compare 2 columns to find the match exist or not. I need the formula which compares B1 with A:A. If Match found 1 else 0. I tried =IF(B:B=AA, 1,0) didn't work.

    A B
    0001165186 0094713197
    0001166595 0097094894
    0001166619 0094640211
    0001190181 0097058341
    0001196342 0016685760
    0001213475 0016748842
    0001216979 0016760276
    0001217648 0097012553
    0001222292 0097075931

  50. Hello,
    For work I am tasked with downloading customer Forecasts and updating our backlog accordingly. it is a very time consuming process. there are multiple parts that are on multiple different purchase orders with quantities and dates varying on a monthly basis. the changes are not that frequent but I have hundreds of rows to go through. I am looking for a way to quickly find changes that have occurred month to month however I need to hold reference to the part number, purchase order, quantity and date. have you any thoughts on how I may be able to do this?

    1. Hello, William,

      if I understand your task correctly, we have the add-in that may help you.

      Please take a look at the Compare Two Tables tool from the Duplicate Remover add-in. With its help you'll be able to find unique records or remove duplicate values between 2 worksheets.

      You can download a fully functional trial version to test the add-in and see if it work for you from this web-page:
      https://www.ablebits.com/downloads/index.php

      Hope this'll help!

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