Is there a formula that compares 2 text cells and captures the difference?

jessmm

Hello!

For a project I'm working on, I need to be able to capture changes made to certain cells (and what specific changes were made). Capturing when a change is made is not the issue, because I know I can figure something out with the auto-rules. But what I'm looking for is a way to compare the changes made with the previous entry and extract the difference. For example, in the screen shot, is there a formula that will compare the cells in the first 2 columns and output the difference between them in the third column?

Thank you in advanced for any help!

Screenshot 2024-05-31 at 10.32.00 AM.png

Update: I was able to find a work around that will do

Pauline J

Hi @ https://community.smartsheet.com/profile/jessmm ,

Your situation sounds like a challenge! I don't believe there is any way to refer to cell history in a formula (I haven't discovered it.) If all the updates are going to be done at once (ie., over the course of the week everyone makes their changes) — you could save out a copy of the original, and then compare the original to the updated version by using formulas to bring the results into a third helper sheet. If there are ongoing changes that need to be kept, like loggin every cell change, perhaps there is an automation that would copy any row that is changed into a log sheet — then you would have to manually do some work…perhaps someone else has thoughts for you, I don't know if my comments are very helpful. 🤷‍♀️