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Compare two sheets in the same Excel file
Drop one workbook and pick two of its sheets. You get every cell that differs, and the rows that exist on only one of them — cell by cell, or matched on a key column so re-sorted rows still pair up. The file is read in this tab and never uploaded.
Open a workbook
Drop an .xlsx with two or more sheets here, or click to choose
Doing this every month? Do it once in TableDI 2, save it as a job, and run it again next month. Download TableDI 2 free
Nothing is uploaded. The file is read by JavaScript in this tab and never leaves your computer — no server sees it, and closing the tab throws it away.
Which of the three comparison tools you want
They answer different questions and it is worth thirty seconds to land on the right one:
- This page — two tabs inside one workbook. Sheet1 versus Sheet2.
- Compare two Excel files — two separate files, cell by cell, with key-column matching. Last week's export versus this week's.
- Spreadsheet compare — two workbooks at the sheet level: which sheets changed and by how much, before you look at cells. Which tab moved.
Why comparing two tabs is its own problem
Two sheets in one workbook are usually two versions of the same thing kept side by side — "Jan" and "Feb", "before" and "after", "ours" and "theirs". That means they are far more likely to have the same columns and different row ordering than two unrelated files are.
Which makes key-column matching the mode you usually want here. Comparing by position tells you that everything below row 12 changed, when in fact one row was inserted. Matching on an ID, an email or a SKU tells you what actually moved.
What it compares, and what it ignores
- Values, not formulas. A cell with
=SUM(A1:A9)is compared as the number Excel last calculated — so a changed formula with an unchanged result reports as no difference. - Formatting is ignored. Fills, fonts, column widths and number formats are not compared.
1,234.50and1234.5are the same value. - Dates are read through their format, so two sheets displaying the same date differently still compare as equal.
- Hidden sheets are skipped when the workbook has visible ones.
The Excel way, for when it has to live in the file
The classic formula is a helper column on one sheet:
=IF(Sheet2!B2<>B2, "changed", ""), filled down. It works when both sheets are in the
same row order and breaks the moment they are not — which is the usual case, and the reason people go
looking for a tool.
For a comparison that has to survive next month, keep it as a job rather than a formula: TableDI 2 remembers the key column, and rows that did not exist when you set it up are compared like the rest.
Sheets that should not be uploaded
A workbook with a "before" and "after" tab is usually a working document — a salary review, a reforecast, a client's numbers mid-revision. This page reads it in your browser; the code that does it makes no network request at all.
Questions people ask
How do I compare two sheets in the same Excel file?
Drop the workbook here and pick the two sheets. Nothing else is needed — no formula, no add-in, no Excel installation. For two separate files use the file comparison tool instead.
The two sheets are in a different row order.
Switch "Match rows" to "by a key column" and pick a column that is unique per row — an ID, an email, a SKU. Comparing by position reports everything after an inserted row as changed; key matching pairs the rows correctly.
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is read by JavaScript running in this tab, using the browser's own
DecompressionStream to unzip .xlsx and a parser that runs on your machine. The page does load two visitor counters — static.cloudflareinsights.com and this site's own /_vercel/insights — but no request carrying your data appears in the network tab while you use it. Close the tab and the data is gone.
Can it compare sheets from two different files?
Not on this page — it takes one workbook. That is compare two Excel files, which accepts two files and lets you pick a sheet on each side.
Does it work with old .xls files?
Not directly. The .xls format is a different, binary format from Excel 97. Open it in Excel, LibreOffice or Numbers and save as .xlsx or .csv, then come back. The tool tells you this rather than failing silently.
Related
Doing this every month?
In TableDI 2 you do it once, then save it as a job. Next month you drop in the new files and run it again.
macOS, Apple silicon and Intel; Windows is in progress (what to do meanwhile). Free is not a trial — no account, no card.
Last reviewed 2026-09-11 by the TableDI team. Something wrong on this page? Tell us — it is one inbox, read by the people who build TableDI.