How to compare two Excel sheets and

combine unique data?

June 2014
Comparing two Excel sheets and combining the unique data can be done with the help of
macros. There are several macros available for free that can be downloaded from the internet
and tweaked according to the requirements. Although the macros are not required to be written
from scratch, some knowledge of programming concepts such as if -else- loops and nested
loops can prove useful when writing macros for Excel office software. Redundant data can be
removed from the Excel worksheets by using macros that can compare and combine unique
data in Excel sheets.

How to compare two Excel sheet and
combine unique data?
Issue
Solution
Note

Issue
I have two Excel sheets, A and B. There is redundant data in both sheets as
well as unique data.
All I want is to combine both with no redundant records. (A+B-Redundant=
Uniq complete data). I can't copy and paste and then filter 'uniq' because
the total data is more than 68000, which is more than 65K rows per sheet. I
need help for using the IF(...) command...can you help?
Solution
Without going into a lot of details, there are several ways to combine specific data from numerous
sources of RAW DATA. The easiest way (once you understand how) would be to use Microsoft
Access. Here you will need to use the 'help options' for the specific process; but what you will be
doing is "mapping" two or more documents together which share 1 category of redundant
information (i.e. NAME, PART NUMBER, etc.).
For example, if each the worksheet has a person's NAME, along with another column or
information. you would map the NAME in each worksheet, then select the additional fields you
want captured in your output. Besides the Access Help engine, you can repost your help request
here under 'mapping & Linking). If you want to stay in Excel, try using an Index Match statement.
=INDEX(SheetA!C:C,(MATCH($A2,SheetA!A:A,0))) Type this formula in a blank cell within the
row/entry you are comparing. This formula will look in SheetA through all data within column A. If
data is matched to the identifier ($A2), it will then copy the data entered in column C (number or
text). #N/A is reported if no match is found.
SheetA Part1 $2 A xxx
Part2 $3 B yyy Part2 $4 V zzz Sheet B Part1 50 MN type your formula
Part2 60 WI type your formula Part2 70 MO type your formula The cell with the formula will
collect "A","B" and ,'V" from the first sheet.
Copy and change the formula to collect data from the columns you want (skip the
redundant/superfluous ones). For best results, lock in your 'identifier' cell (in this case $A2) To
use a formula solution, data within sheets needs to be organized the same way because you are
defining which 'columns' to match and pull information from.
Note
Thanks to MCAL for this tip on the forum.
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