Sheet Compare

Peggy Parchert

I receive a weekly report that I need to compare to the previous week's report to determine what changes have been made over that week. If possible I would like to be able to do this compare in SmartSheet (instead of using Spreadsheet Compare in Excel). 

Does SmartSheet have this functionality (like the Spreadsheet Compare tool in Excel)?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks -Peggy

Andrée Starå

Hi Peggy,

You might use a combination of Highlight Changes and Cell History. There is also the Activity Log.

Would that work?

I have a few other ideas. Can you share a screenshot or more information about the process?

Have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant @ Get Done Consulting

Peggy Parchert

The current week and previous week reports are sent to me via email. These are excel spreadsheets that I have been uploading and completing a manual compare (which is time-consuming and inefficient) in SmartSheet - line by line.

There are multiple date columns in the report. I'm not sure if it would be easier to just complete the compare in excel and then upload to SmartSheet if there isn't a compare tool in SmartSheet. 

Andrée Starå

Can you maybe share the sheet(s) or some screenshots? (Delete/replace any confidential/sensitive information before sharing) That would make it easier to help. (share too, andree@getdone.se)

Have a fantastic day!

Best,

Andrée

Peggy Parchert

I apologize for the delay in getting back to you. I had an unexpected project at work and then a personal matter. I will share my sheet with you - hopefully by week end things will calm down.

Thank you -Peggy

Andrée Starå

No worries!

Have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée

Peggy Parchert

I ended up just doing a compare in excel and then uploading after removing duplicates (if there was any). It seems to be working ok - just wish SmartSheet had a compare function and/or remove duplicates capability. 

Thank you for your input.

Peggy

Andrée Starå

Happy to help!

Glad to hear you solved it!

Great ideas! That would be excellent additions to Smartsheet features.

Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment.

John Martin

Just curious if there was any followup or conclusion to this thread. I am also interested in such functionality and from just a few simple web searches it seems like others in the community as well.

Peggy Parchert

I'm still using excel to complete my tasks. Please submit an Enhancement Request for this - link below:

https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form?EQBCT=739aa75f30ca43a8a22eb53e4da7d409&_ga=2.234385113.658862704.1584966748-335351822.1584032991

Maybe if enough of us ask, it will be on the list....

Paul Newcome

If you have access to the Smartsheet itself, you could use the Highlight Changes feature.

Jill Beyer

I just submitted an enhancement request for this feature as well!

It would save me about 1.5 days if I could just compare 2 separate sheets with each other and only update the found differences from the sheets. I don't think using the highlight changes feature would help if there are 2 separate sheets.

If there is already something out there, I would be interested in hearing about it though!

Paul Newcome

@Jill Beyer Are you comparing two sheets or two reports? If comparing two sheets, you could create a column on each that has the row number followed by a letter ("a" for sheet 1 and "b" for sheet 2) so that sheet 1 has a column that has

1a

2a

3a

4a

and sheet 2 has

1b

2b

3b

4b

Then you can sort the report by that column to have sheet one row one directly above sheet two row one.

If you are just looking for differences between two sheets, having them both displayed line by line like that may help.

Andrée Starå

Hi @Jill Beyer

How much data are in the sheets, and how complex are they?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Caravan

HI,

I have the similar situation where I have .mpp project schedule updates each week by another vendor. Each week I convert the .mpp file to .xml and load it to SS. Is there a way to compare the 2 schedule sheets to know what are the differences from current sheet (schedule) vs previous sheet (schedule). There's about 2000 lines and growing.

Thanks much

Genevieve P.

Hi @Caravan

If you're on an Enterprise plan, you could copy/paste the data on top of the previous week's data, then use the Work Insights tab to review changes over time. See: Use Work Insights to visualize your data

Another option could be to use DataMesh to update your source sheet with the new sheet's data. Then you could use the "Highlight Changes" feature to highlight what cells were updated.

When you have a moment, please submit your feature request to the Product team by creating an Idea Post in the Smartsheet Product Feedback and Ideas topic here in the Community. This will allow other users to vote on your enhancement idea!

Cheers,

Genevieve